Gabriel Jones

An accomplished jazz trumpeter at an early age, Gabriel Jones grew up in New York City, spending his youth playing at his uncle Bill's jazz club in upper Manhattan. Winning local acclaim, Jones was exceptionally lucky in receiving coaching in trumpet playing from the legendary Louis Armstrong himself. Jones also gained another teacher in Danny "Drummer" Bellaman, a Harlem-born jazz musician, playing drums. The pair became fast friends, playing nightclubs gigs.

Army Intelligence took note of both men joining the war effort. Jones' interest in music gained the attention of the top brass and the Army sent him to a high specialty school where he became an expert in German classical music.

Despite segregation in the armed forces, Jones found himself handpicked by Captain "Happy" Sam Sawyer to enlist in the First Attack Squad, aka the famous Howling Commandos lead by Nick Fury. Jones distinguished himself both with the music of machine guns and his handy trumpet, which he used to jazz countless Howler parties in the barracks and to unusual and effective use in battle.

After training, the unit was dispatched back behind enemy lines in France to recover a Free French resistance fighter who was captured by Nazi soldiers. This was a vital rescue mission since they knew the date and time of an impending Allied landing on the beaches of Normandy. With the help of Free French resistance fighters they rescued the man from the Nazis before he could be forced to talk.

Following World War II Jones presumably continued his career as a jazz musician until he reenlisted for the Korean War, once again seeing combat as a Howling Commando with his former teammates.

After the Korean War, its unclear what Jones was doing just prior to joining S.H.I.E.L.D., however once he was in, Jones became one of Fury's closest aides, assisting him in running the entire organization and acting as an operative on major missions. Jones' most celebrated solo assignment was his infiltration of the first subversive organization known as the Secret Empire, which he succeeded in defeating from within. Jones served at the front lines of many of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s early battles with the likes of Hydra, A.I.M., the Maggia, the villainous duo of Mentallo and the Fixer, and many other foes. Jones also came to know many of the world's heroes, including the Fantastic Four, Iron Man and of course Captain America, whom he first met during World War II.

For a time Jones was also romantically involved with Peggy Carter, a former member of the French Resistance. Having met during the war, Carter and Jones were reunited when both served as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the 1970's.