Brubeck passed away at a hospital in Norwalk, Connecticut Wednesday, manager Russell Gloyd said. He died of heart failure, Gloyd told the Chicago Tribune newspaper.

Brubeck would have turned 92 on Thursday.

In a career that spanned six decades, Brubeck won countless awards, played for dignitaries and presidents at the White House, and was designated a "Living Legend" by the US Library of Congress.

The musician achieved widespread fame with The Dave Brubeck Quartet. His iconic "Take Five" became a classic jazz standard.

The Quartet's 1959 album "Time Out" was the first jazz LP to sell 1 million copies.

In 1954 he became the first modern jazz musician to be pictured on the cover of Time magazine.

Brubeck is remembered as a jazz pioneer, helping to push the genre into mainstream culture. He was still playing music as recently as last year.

dr/tj (Reuters, AP, AFP)