The Winter in Lisbon (1992) is a crime drama about a jazz pianist who falls for a dangerous woman while in Portugal with an American expatriate's jazz band. The soundtrack represents Gillespie's final studio recordings.

To Be or Not to Bop: Memoirs of Dizzy Gillespie was released in July 1979 by Doubleday. Dizzy's own memories are intertwined with reflections from his famous associates, including Cab Calloway, Count Basie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Mary Lou Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others.

In December 1991, during an engagement at Kimball's East in Emeryville, California, Dizzy had a medical emergency from what turned out to be pancreatic cancer. He cancelled the rest of the tour, ending his 56-year touring career, and passed away on January 6, 1993, at the age of 75.