Movies: Dizzy Gillespie

This is Les Blank’s earliest music film, focusing on the renown trumpet player, Dizzy Gillespie, who along with Charlie Parker, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Rollins and others sparked the change from traditional Jazz to “Bebop” in mid-1940s America. The fil...

Improvisational jazz performance filmed in 1950 by Gjon Mili plus Duke Ellington Trio filmed in July 1966, Count Basie at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1977, Joe Pass 1979, Ella Fitzgerald 1979, and Oscar Peterson at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1977....

Carved to the beat verses of Allen Ginsberg and his eponymous poem, A Supermarket in California paints the most surreal contours of an America watched, dreamed, filtered through the eyes of a poet who meets Walt Whitman in a supermarket and pines for...

In 1955, on his report, a medical examiner wrote in the box: age, “about 53 years”. Charlie Parker nicknamed Bird just died, at 34. His death will be the ransom of a life that was not denied to the excesses or the consuming flame of genius. His wilde...

Earth is visited by a race of aliens, who issue an ultimatum: either peace or complete destruction....

Inspired by three South American myths, this film is a plea to save the tropical rain forest and its unique inhabitants....

In this concert, recorded live London’s Royal Festival Hall in 1989, Dizzy Gillespie performs with the magical United Nation Orchestra and a selection of jazz musicians including Slide Hampton, Arturo Sandoval, Paquito D'Rivera, Mario Rivera and Flor...

At once a high-level musician, member of the October Group, entertainer, theater artist, film actor, mountaineer, and skier, Maurice Baquet, always on the move, structured his life around two common threads: the cello and the mountains. He once defin...

Documentary film detailing the history of Kansas City jazz....

Documenting Louis Armstrong's appearance at the 1970 Newport Jazz Festival....

Half a century ago, Brazilian composer and musician Antonio Carlos "Tom" Jobim (1927-1994) introduced bossa nova to a worldwide audience with "The Girl from Ipanema." This relaxed, cool, sensuous music blended jazz and samba. After recording an album...

Profile of Duke Ellington featuring performances and interviews with the legendary bandleader. The performance footage was recorded in a number of places from The Basin St. West Jazz Club, the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival, and his first Concert of Sac...

A vibrant animation by Patricia Marx. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2000....

The picture brings interviews with the participants of the 1st São Paulo Jazz Festival that occurred in Anhembi Conventions Palace in September 1978 and reunited musicians, composers and singers from all around the world....

Mother Earth and Father Time converse about the choices humans make. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010....

The history of the ocean as our most important resource....

A 4 part documentary about jazz musician / actor Slim Gaillard with interviews, archival footage & performances....

A filmed variety show featuring the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra with special guests....

A journey into the BBC archives unearthing glorious performances and candid interviews from the golden age of jazz. Featuring some of the greatest names in American music, including the godfather of New Orleans jazz Louis Armstrong, the King of Swing...

All-Star concert recorded at Lincoln Center in 1982 -- Featuring Max Roach, Jon Faddis, John Lewis and Milt Jackson....