DescriptionThe Hammond Organ jazz scene was prominent in African-American communities from the early 1950s through the 1980s, approximately 75% of the jazz venues in these communities were organ rooms. There is a distinct history of this brand of music, but it omitted from jazz history books and libraries, and jazz performance programs. This thesis examines the unique characteristics and traces the history of this music, but also probes the reason for its exclusion inboth the performance and musicological branches of academia. Finally, this thesis suggests ways to rectify this situation, including a new theoretical approach to analyzing this music called jazz.