Jimmy McGriff: Jazz and blues organist

The rich tones of the Hammond B-3 organ were as much a part of the soundtrack of the Sixties as the Beatles' harmonies or Jimi Hendrix's guitar. Along with Richard "Groove" Holmes and Jimmy Smith, who both tutored him, Jimmy McGriff was one of the so-called "Big Three" practitioners of the instrument.

McGriff's block chords, keyboard stabs and swinging bass patterns, and his blend of gospel, blues and jazz styles, were extremely influential, and he recorded close to 100 albums. In 1962 he scored a pop hit with a rollicking arrangement of Ray Charles's "I Got a Woman" which became a dance-floor favourite with British mods.

Six foot tall and often seen wearing a cap, McGriff cut a striking figure as he towered over his B-3 Hammond. He always insisted that his appeal went beyond the confines of any genre. "People are always classifying me as a jazz organist, but I'm more of a blues organ player," he said. "That's really what I feel."

Born into a musical family in 1936, McGriff was a precocious talent. Aged five, he took up the piano, playing by ear. He subsequently moved on to the alto saxophone and the violin and also borrowed his brother's upright bass, but he developed a fascination for the organ sounds he heard at the Eastern Star Baptist Church in Philadelphia. "They talk about who taught me this and who taught me that, but the basic idea of what I'm doing on the organ came from the church," he said.

After being drafted and spending two years in the army during the Korean War, McGriff studied at the Pennsylvania Institute of Criminology and then joined the Philadelphia Police Force. However, he moonlighted as a musician whenever he could and eventually, after seeing Holmes play at his sister's wedding, realised his true calling was the B-3 Hammond.

As Holmes and Smith both lived in the Philadelphia area, McGriff benefited from their tuition and also went on to study with Milt Buckner and the classical organist Sonny Gatewood. He took more formal classes, first at Combe College in Philadelphia, and later at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. In 1958, McGriff made his recording début with "Foxy Due".

By 1961, he was performing with his trio in Trenton, New Jersey, when his dynamic reworking of "I've Got a Woman" caught the ear of a talent scout, Joe Lederman. When the record began making waves, the Sue Records founder "Juggy" Murray succeeded in engineering the single's crossover from the rhythm and blues listings to the pop charts. No one-hit wonder, McGriff also charted with the equally infectious "All About My Girl", "M.G. Blues", "Kiko" and "Bump De Bump" and the album Blues For Mister Jimmy (1965).

He later recorded for many labels including Solid State – most notably with "The Worm" in 1968 – Blue Note, Capitol, Groove Merchant, Milestone and Fantasy. His last studio album, McGriff Avenue, was released in 2002.

In the 1970s, McGriff ran a jazz club called the Golden Slipper in Newark, New Jersey, where he recorded two live albums, and briefly retired to a horse farm in Connecticut. He continued to tour until the onset of multiple sclerosis a few years ago.

Pierre Perrone

James Harrell McGriff, organist: born Philadelphia 3 April 1936; married (one son, one daughter); died Philadelphia 24 May 2008.