Unlike his previous short subject A Bundle of Blues dispensed with anything resembling a plot. This film simply has Duke Ellington and his Orchestra playing a pair of instrumental jazz compositions and then having Ivie Anderson do a soulful rendition of Stormy Weather.
Maybe because Ellington wanted the audience to concentrate on him and his music rather than Stormy Weather which Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler wrote was the reason the short subject wasn't entitled Stormy Weather. It certainly is the highlight of the short.
One person said this was Lena Horne and it certainly sounds like her, but she was a kid when this short was made. Lena would be making the big time in the next decade. What we're listening to is the beautiful strains and watching the beauty of Ivie Anderson who was Ellington's regular female vocalist.
Anyway you slice it, A Bundle of Blues is for real music lovers.
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