 The instrument was designed to replace the pipe organ in churches, and early adopters included Henry Ford and George Gershwin, but it was not widely adopted for classical music.However, it was played in African American churches, and its use spread to gospel music and then to jazz in the 1950s.After usage declined in the jazz world in the 1970s, it subsequently regained its popularity in the genre and has become the second most used keyboard instrument in jazz after the piano.