Jazz great takes five in front of the Pearly Gates

Dave Brubeck converted to Catholicism in 1980

Jazz lovers are mourning the loss of Dave Brubeck, who died Dec. 5.

Dave Brubeck, who rose to worldwide fame after the 1959 release of his seminal album, "Time Out," died Dec. 5 in Norwalk, Conn. However, many of his fans may not know that he was received into the Church in 1980.

According to the book, A Century of Catholic Converts, by Lorene Hanley Duquin, when Pope John Paul II came to San Francisco in 1987, Brubeck was chosen to compose a nine-minute segment for the papal Mass.

The musical interlude was based on the words, "Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."

The night before the Mass:

"In my dream, the answer came to do a chorale and fugue. I could use the same words over and over again, but I needed more words," he later remarked. 

He decided to use the next sentence, "What is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven."

Brubeck did not say these dreams were divinely inspired,

"But they sure messed up my sleep!" he quipped.