Tony Ciabatti? Trumpet?

[KateMcCridhe]

A few years ago I was befriended by a gent who lived in a nursing home where my husband worked. He'd had a stroke, and had difficulty communicating. A discussion with the man was like a game of chirades. Of course, this was very frustrating to him, because he had a lot of interesting stories, and I sure wish he could have told me at least as much as he wanted to.
In the nursing home, everybody called him "Duke".
His name was Tony Ciabatti (I believe I am remembering the surname correctly).

He was a trumpet man, served in Korea, apparently played with Lawrence Welk for a while... He showed me a cartoon drawn by that fellow that draws cartoons of celebrities and incorporates the name of his daughter, Nina, into every drawing. It was a drawing of his band, a 5 man band. The piano had a sign that read something about "No Lefties". Duke was pretty obvious, besides the fact that he was holding a trumpet.

He was only about 64 when I knew him in 2000.
I believe he was a pretty sizeable man, judging by the size of his hands (they looked like a hand of bananas!) and head. He was pretty much confined to a wheel chair (of course, we used to terrorize the home... he'd ask me to push faster - at a full run - and I would oblige, and we'd be giggling like a couple of kids - very experienced kids - even if he did make me worry when he'd stick his foot out to kick those swinging doors open. WHAT A WILD HARE! So what did I do but encourage the encourageable... )

Anybody know this guy or the band?
Every once in a while I try to find out more about him or at least the band he played in... and I've been trying for several years.
Sure would like to know...
Maybe even get to hear some of his music...

[KateMcCridhe]

BTW... as a giggle. He was a friend of Marilyn Monroe. Thought the world of her and Joe.
My husband reminded me of that, because he almost got strangled one night.
See, the facility had casual Fridays.
My husband protested the $5 cost, and since he used to sit at the front desk and answer telephones, he didn't feel that it was appropriate to be casual anyway. So as a nod, and tease at the same time, to casual Fridays, he'd wear odd ties.

He had a tie with Marilyn Monroe graphics on it... the night he wore that tie, Duke got all excited and grabbed on to it.

[parri]

Hi Kate ! I read your introduction elsewhere in the Forum . And I was about to reply and say that it rang a bell , and that the performer played brass . I think this is correct . Anyway I did a take and did a google search , but nothing came up . I think he was quite well known in the 40's and 50's . And i'm certain that I recently read a review mentioning him , in regards to an album re-issue (he may have even been prominent horn if not bandleader as well ) . I will keep snooping on this !