Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

Toward the beginning of his career, Wood offered his inventions to the Sewerage and Water Board
at no charge. His pumps were subsequently used around the world, yielding Wood substantial royalties
(much of which he spent on his sailboat). Wood consulted and designed the drainage, pumping,
and sewage systems for Chicago, Milwaukee, Baltimore, and San Francisco, as well as managing
projects in Holland, Canada, Egypt, China, and India.
Wood’s commitment to the Sewerage and Water Board was equaled only by his commitment to
sailing, especially on the Gulf Coast. His grandfather Albert Baldwin (q.v.), Commodore of the
Southern Yacht Club, was also a regular sailor to and from his home in Mandeville. Wood died at
the age of 77 at the helm of his small yacht Nydia, now on display at the Biloxi Maritime Museum.
1 Nicole Romagossa, “Albert Baldwin Wood, the Screw Pump, and the Modernization of New Orleans” M.A. Thesis,
University of New Orleans, December 2010.
2 Ray M. Thompson, Biography of Albert Baldwin Wood, typed manuscript in the Louisiana Division, Tulane Library.
O SCAR
“PAPA” CELESTIN
(1884-1954)
Oscar Celestin.
LOUISIANA STATE MUSEUM, PHOTOGRAPH, 7 3/4 X 10, IN.
(19.7 X 25.4 CM), UNDATED.COURTESY OF THE NEW
ORLEANS JAZZ CLUB.
For fifty years Oscar “Papa” Celestin and his Original Tuxedo Jazz Band played and to some
extent personified Dixieland Jazz in New Orleans.
Celestin’s Dixieland Jazz Band sprang into existence
in 1910 when Papa agreed to lead it. The
band still performs under the leadership of
descendants of Papa’s original Tuxedo band.
While so much jazz had moved on, the Tuxedo
band remained the best source for listening to
Dixieland music.
“Papa” was already playing the cornet in
Napoleonville when Louis Armstrong (q.v.) was
born in 1901. Soon after that he arrived in New
Orleans, taking jobs wherever he could and working
as a longshoreman. A year after cornetist Buddy
Bolden retired from Henry “Red” Allen’s Brass Band,
Celestin was playing occasionally in Bolden’s former
seat. About 1909 Tom Anderson hired him to
play at his Fair Play Saloon in Storyville, from
which, in about 1910, he moved to the new Tuxedo
Dance Hall nearby and quickly became the leader
of its band. Celestin renamed it the Tuxedo Orchestra, leading it at the dance hall on Franklin Street
between Iberville and Bienville and at an increasing number of society engagements around town.
From about 1916 to 1922, Louis Armstrong played often with Celestin’s Tuxedo Orchestra,
playing his last two gigs with the Tuxedo before heading for Chicago. If the first jazz recording
occurred in 1922 or so, Papa cut the first jazz recording in New Orleans in 1925 with Okeh
records. About this time he discovered the classic “When the Saints Go Marching In,” becoming
the first musician to play the old spiritual as a jazz number.
During the 1920s unionization came to Mississippi River boats, requiring musicians to join a
union and present a card to be hired. At that time New Orleans did not have a black musicians
union, only a white one. In response, Celestin in 1926 organized “A. F. L. Local 496 Colored.”
Elected its first president, he enabled the Tuxedo Orchestra to begin steamboat trips upriver to
NOTABLE NEW ORLEANIANS: A Tricentennial Tribute
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