While the electric organ was used in jazz by Fats Waller and Count Basie, Jimmy Smith's virtuoso improvisation technique on the Hammond helped to popularize the electric organ as a jazz and blues instrument.

For ballads, he played walking bass lines on the bass foot pedals. For up-tempo tunes, he would play the bass line on the lower manual and use the pedals for emphasis on the attack of certain notes, which helped to emulate the attack and sound of a string bass.

Smith influenced many other jazz organists. More recently, Smith influenced bands such as the Beastie Boys (who sampled the bassline from "Root Down (And Get It)" - and saluted Smith in the lyrics - for their own hit "Root Down"), as well as Medeski, Martin & Wood and The Hayden-Eckert Ensemble. The Acid Jazz movement also reflects Smith's organ style.