Plot

Les Blank's first music film captures legendary trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie playing his trademark bent horn and expounding on his ideas about music.

Recorded at a time when Diz was fronting his fabled post-war big band featuring jazz greats such as pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson or bassist Ray Brown, this concert film catches the irrepressible trumpeter in top artistic form. In a format that was typical of the day, dancing acts and singers such as Helen Humes or Kenny 'Pancho' Hagood were featured alongside the headlining Gillespie Orchestra. More than fifty years have passed, but watching Diz and his men enthusiastically attack bop classics such as Salt Peanuts, Shaw 'Nuff or Things To Come still makes for wonderful viewing. All clips have been selected from the 1947 ling feature Jivin' In Be-Bop.—Anonymous