Doc: Dizzy Gillespie, 1990

In 1990, a documentary about trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was released that featured not a word of voice-over narration. Instead, To Bop or Not to Be: A Jazz Life, by Norwegian director Jan Horne, simply featured musician interviews in English, concert performances and archival footage. My guess is this approach was favored so the filmmakers wouldn't have to translate or provide subtitles for non-Norwegian viewers. The result is a surprising film without guardrails for Norwegian television that showcased the exceptionalism of Gillespie—his musicianship, his humor and his modernist invention called bebop. Here's the documentary...