Jazz fans, even casual music fans with a passing interest in jazz, will love this meticulously researched documentary on the life and times of one of the most influential of all jazz trumpeters, Dizzy Gillespie.

Dizzy, though not in the very exclusive league of Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, was nudging for admittance. He blew hot and strong, and was one of the creators of the jazz style which produced such ardent love and hate in equal measures, bebop. And this was a man who, as well as being a musical genius, was one of the world's natural comedians - though his fooling around stopped the moment he blew.

There's footage here of Dizzy in ensembles with legendary saxophonist Charlie 'Bird' Parker, and documentary evidence that Dizzy kept swinging until the day he died, just a decade ago after more than half a century of solid jazz creation.

There are strong contributions from musicians who knew and worked alongside him. My only quibble is that too much attention is paid, late in the documentary, to a 'tribute' band formed by a Dizzy Gillespie enthusiast who has assembled musicians to re-create Gillespie's masterpieces.

Like virtually all such attempts, this revival music is doomed to mediocrity. Just like 'trad' jazz, attempts to keep a style alive result in ossification - slow musical death. That quibble aside, this is an exemplary documentary which serves well as a celebration of a great life in jazz.

This transfer of a made-for-television documentary presents the program in pristine condition. Sound and image are beautifully presented, although allowance has to be made for documentary footage dating back at times more than 50 years. For the same archival reason, the program is presented in a mixture of black-and-white.

The main extra feature, on the second of this two-disc set, is a 90-minute concert filmed at London's Festival Hall towards the close of Dizzy's life and career. This June 1989 gig features Dizzy's long love of Latin music - he was amongst the very first musicians to bring together jazz and Latin sounds - and features performer and music arranger Slide Hampton. For the concert feature, the sound switches from the documentary's Dolby two-track presentation to Dolby Digital 5.1, and is crisp and well detailed. Image too is just fine.

Although I'm a fan of Dizzy's earlier music and style, this concert is certainly a great presentation on DVD, and shows real concern with adding value to the overall presentation.