Jazz organist and bandleader. A self-taught pianist and organist, he followed in the footsteps of legendary Hammond B-3 organist, Jimmy Smith, becoming one of the leading Hammond B-3 players and proponents of soul jazz, a mixture of blues-infused jazz popular in the 1950's and 60's. McDuff began his musical career in 1947 as a bass player and pianist in Gary, Indiana. By the early 50's, he had moved to Chicago, where he played with Denny Zeitlin and Joe Farrell. Shortly thereafter, he was leading his own group as a pianist. When a club owner asked if he could play the organ, he taught himself to play out of fear of losing his job. By the late 1950's, he was playing with bebop musicians, Johnny Griffith and Max Roach. But it was his association with tenor saxophonist, Willis "Gator" Jackson, that would change the course of his life. Encouraged by Jackson, he began to concentrate on the Hammond organ, making his recording debut in 1960. During the early portion of the decade, he would work with such jazz luminaries as Red Holloway and Kenny Burrell, eventually forming his own band featuring Harold Vick and Joe Dukes. But it was in 1963 that his career took off, when he hired a young guitarist named George Benson; the popular group became known as The Heatin' System. During the course of a career that spanned more than 40 years, he recorded more than 60 albums and worked with some of the greatest names in jazz and blues, including Sonny Stitt and Etta James. "Captain" Jack McDuff, as he would later become known, died in Minneapolis at the age of 74. Upon learning of his passing, George Benson remarked "Jack McDuff gave me the most important foundation for communicating my music to others. He pointed out the elements that are universally common to us all. I owe a great deal of my success to the man we know as Brother Jack McDuff."

Cause of death: Heart attack