It is somewhat belated news, but I just learned that musician Jimmy Smith, the innovator of the jazz organ, has passed away. The New York Times' Ben Ratliff has the obituary:

Jimmy Smith, who made the Hammond organ one of the most popular sounds in jazz beginning in the mid-1950's, died on Tuesday at his home in Phoenix. He was 76.

He died of unspecified natural causes, said his stepson and former manager, Michael Ward, who also said that his age of 76 was based on his birth certificate and not the birth date found in most reference books.

Before Jimmy Smith, the electric organ had been nearly a novelty in jazz; it was he who made it an important instrument in the genre and influenced nearly every subsequent notable organist in jazz and rock, including Jimmy McGriff, Jack McDuff, Larry Young, Shirley Scott, Al Kooper and Joey DeFrancesco.

By 1955 - which coincidentally was the year Hammond introduced its most popular model, the B-3 - he had an organ trio with a new sound that would thereafter become the model for groups in what became known as "organ rooms," the urban bars up and down the East Coast specializing in precisely the kind of blues-oriented, swinging, funky music that Mr. Smith epitomized. He continued touring and recording until just before his death.

Jimmy Smith's final album, a duet with organist Joey DeFrancesco aptly titled Legacy, is scheduled for release next week.