Throughout the late 1920s and into the 1930s, jazz bandleaders were experimenting with increasing the size of their bands. Because dancehalls kept getting bigger and bigger, the amount of volume a band needed to fill them kept growing (these were the days before amplified sound reinforcement). Duke Ellington exemplified this trend: his first band in 1924 had members. By 1927, he had members, by 1930 members and by 1940 members.