NEW YORK—Jerry Wexler not only coined the phrase rhythm and blues, the legendary music producer was one of the key architects of the genre. He revolutionized popular music with seminal, superstar-making recordings of acts such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and others.

But the genius of Wexler, who died Friday at his Sarasota, Fla., home at 91, was not limited to just one style of music. Over his decades-long career, he would create varied soundscapes that touched just about every kind of listener, from his work with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson to his masterful recording of Dusty Springfield to his work with pop and rock acts like George Michael and Dire Straits.

He also helped build one of the most influential labels in pop, Atlantic Records, which was the home of Franklin, Charles, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. He was named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

“Jerry was truly one of the great record men of all time,” Franklin told The Associated Press Friday.

Jerry Wexler’s son Paul said the record producer died at home, where he was under hospice care, about 3:45 a.m. Friday of heart disease.

Both his son and daughter Lisa were present at the time of his death. Paul Wexler told the AP his father’s death was “a tremendous loss.”

Wexler earned his reputation as a music industry giant while a partner at Atlantic Records with another legendary music figure, the late Ahmet Ertegun. Atlantic provided an outlet for the groundbreaking work of African-American performers in the 1950s and ’60s.

Wexler helped boost the careers of both the “King of Soul,” Charles, and the “Queen of Soul,” Franklin. Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke and Percy Sledge were among the other R&B greats who benefited from Wexler’s deft recording touch. Among the standards produced by Wexler: Franklin’s “Respect,” a dazzling, feminist reworking of an Otis Redding song; Sledge’s deep ballad “When A Man Loves A Woman” and Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour,” with a horn vamp inspired by Wexler’s admittedly rhythmless dancing.

He also produced Dusty Spring-field’s classic “Dusty in Memphis,” which would become a benchmark of “blue-eyed” soul, as well as key recordings for the Memphis-based soul label Stax Records; Wexler created a partnership where Atlantic distributed Stax records and eventually took control of their master recordings.

Burke said Wexler was the ultimate music man.

“He loved black music, R&B music and rhythm and blues was his foundation. He had a feeling for it, he had the knack to keep it going in his heart and recognize the talent ... ,” Burke said. “Jerry Wexler didn’t change the sound of America, he put the sound to the public. He open the doors and windows to the radio stations ... and made everybody listen.”