NEW YORK, USA (AFP) —

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck, whose experiments in rhythm and style helped win millions of new jazz fans around the world, died yesterday 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, while on his way to see his cardiologist, 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.

That success cemented his reputation as one of the great popularisers in the history of jazz, after years of nudging the music into mainstream culture by relentlessly performing on university campuses.