vie. Duke’s band was having a hard time performing in the South because of the segregation laws not allowing blacks to eat in white restaurants or finding accommodations suitable for the band. In 1933, most of the other big bands were adding vocalists to their ensemble and thus Duke felt pressured to do so too. Duke then hired a woman named Ivie Anderson and quickly proved that he had done the right thing. During the same year, his band got a chance to play in Europe. At first Duke was very skeptical of how his music would be reacted to just because jazz had its roots in America and the Europeans had a very contrasting style of music. The band was amazed at how well informed the Europeans were about their entire past. Even the Prince of Wales came to hear the band play. All of the concerts held in England were sellouts and the band was also well received in Scotland and Paris. When Duke’s band returned to America, they began feeling the hardships and sorrow of traveling on the road. Also, many of the band members, including Duke, began developing drinking problems, which started making some of the musicians' lives miserable. After World War II, the mood and musical tastes of the country shifted and hard times befell big bands. The Ellington band was not always financially self-sufficient, but during the lean times Ellington used his songwriting royalties to meet the soloists’ salaries. One could assign to Ellington the altruistic motive of loyalty to his sidemen, but another motivation may have been his compositional style. "The band was his instrument, and no Ellington composition was complete until he brought it to his orchestra," said Billy Strayhorn, lyricist, collaborator, and pianist. An added downfall was the death of Duke’s mother, Daisy, in May of 1935, setting Duke into a deep depression. He used to sit and stare into space while he talked to himself. Fortunately though, those long pep t...
