Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, whose experiments in rhythm and style helped win millions of new jazz fans around the world, died Wednesday of heart failure, his manager said. He was 91. Brubeck, who was a day away from his 92nd birthday, died in a hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut, manager Russell Gloyd told AFP. Brubeck won a slew of awards over the course of a career that spanned more than six decades. He was still playing as recently as last year.

Brubeck played at the White House for presidents and visiting dignitaries, and was designated a "Living Legend" by the Library of Congress. Brubeck's 1959 album "Time Out" became the first million-selling jazz record of the modern era, as songs "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk" defied the indifference of critics to become classics in the genre.

A big party had been planned for Sunday to celebrate Brubeck's 92nd birthday, Gloyd said. But on Wednesday he felt ill, and his son called for an ambulance and Brubeck was taken to the emergency room. "They came up later and said we just can't keep this heart going," Gloyd said.

Brubeck's success cemented his reputation as one of the great popularizers in the history of jazz, after years of nudging the music into mainstream culture by relentlessly performing on university campuses. His Dave Brubeck Quartet also toured the world on behalf of the United States government, becoming so popular in Europe and Asia that it was said that when Washington needed to fix up damage somewhere, they sent in Brubeck. Born on December 6, 1920 in Concord, California, Brubeck at age four was improvising tunes from the classical pieces he was taught by his piano teacher mother.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012