John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (/ɡɪˈlɛspi/; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and singer. Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge[2] but adding layers of harmonic and rhythmic complexity previously unheard in jazz. His combination of musicianship, showmanship, and wit made him a leading popularizer of the new music called bebop. His beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality provided some of bebop's most prominent symbols. In the 1940s Gillespie, with Charlie Parker, became a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Jon Faddis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Chuck Mangione, and balladeer Johnny Hartman. AllMusic's Scott Yanow wrote: "Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time, Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up being similar to those of Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated [....] Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time". From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Filmography

• 2024A Supermarket in California — Music
• 2022Jazz Club 2
• 1993Movie Music Man: A Portrait of Lalo Schifrin — Self - Musician, Trumpet
• 1991El invierno en Lisboa — Bill Swann, Original Music Composer
• 1990Amazonia — (voice)
• 1989Didn't We Ramble On — Narrator
• 1986The Cosmic Eye — The Musicians
• 1984Hello — Original Music Composer
• 1984Olympic Gala
• The Cosby Show — Mr. Hampton
• 1982A Family Circus Easter — Easter Bunny (voice)
• 1977Second Chance: Sea — Original Music Composer
• 1974Voyage to Next — Father Time (voice), Original Music Composer
• 1972Jazz Is Our Religion
• 1964The Hat — The First Border Guard (voice)
• 1962The Hole — (voice)
• 1958A Smattering of Spots — Music
• 1956Date with Dizzy — Self, Music
• 1953Things to Come — Music

Appearances as themselves (52)

• 2024Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat — Self (archive footage)
• 2023Maurice Baquet, The Accorded — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Charlie Parker: Bird Songs — Self (archive footage)
• 2022Jazz session: Dizzy Gillepsie en concert au studio 104 - 1970 — Self - trompettiste
• 2021Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street — Self (archive footage)
• 2020Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Jazz: The Only Way of Life — Self (archive footage)
• 2019Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool — Self - Musician (archive footage)
• 2018Michel Legrand, sans demi-mesure — Self (archive footage)
• 2018The Jazz Ambassadors — Self (archive footage)
• 2014Brownie Speaks — Self
• 2014Jazz Legends in Their Own Words — Self (archive footage)
• 2012The Music According to Tom Jobim — Self (archive footage)
• 2012The Savoy King: Chick Webb & the Music That Changed America — Self (archive footage)
• 2011All-Star Jazz Show: Live from The Ed Sullivan Theater — Self
• 2009The Best Of Louis Armstrong: Satchmo At His Best — Self
• 2008Good Evening Ev'rybody: In Celebration of Louis Armstrong — Self
• 2006Jazz Icons: Dizzy Gillespie Live in '58 & '70 — Self
• 2004Improvisation — Self
• 2004The Harlem Renaissance — Self (archive footage)
• 2002Dizzy Gillespie - Live in Montreal — Self
• 1998Monterey Jazz Festival 1975 — Self
• 1995Oscar Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar — Self
• 1994A Great Day in Harlem — Self
• 1992Hugh Hefner: Once Upon a Time — Self (archive footage)
• 1990Benny Carter: Symphony in Riffs — Self
• 1990To Bop or Not To Be: A Jazz Life — Self
• 1989A Night In Havana: Dizzy Gillespie In Cuba — Self - Trumpet
• 1989Dizzy Gillespie: Live at the Royal Festival Hall — Self
• 1989Slim Gaillard's Civilisation — Self
• 1986Miles Ahead: The Music of Miles Davis — Self
• 1985Six Short Films of Les Blank (1960-1985) — Self
• Bei Bio — Self
• 1982Dizzy's Dream Band — Self
• 1981The Beginnings of Bebop — Self
• 1980Música para Sempre — Self
• 1979The Last of the Blue Devils — Self (archive footage)
• The Muppet Show — Self - Special Guest Star
• 1974Dizzy Gillespie Quartet @ Berliner Jazztage 1974 — Self
• Le Grand Échiquier — Self
• Great Performances — Self
• The Dick Cavett Show — Self - Guest
• 1967Duke Ellington: Love You Madly — Self
• 1966Smith, James O. - Organist, USA. 1. Die Europa-Tournee des Jazz-Organisten Jimmy Smith — Self
• 1964Dizzy Gillespie — Self
• 1963Look at Life: Jazz All the Way — Self
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson — Self
• Jazz Casual — Self - Trumpet
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• 1946Jivin' in Bebop — Self
• Cool — Self
• What's Happening — Self