papa celestin
![Papa Celestin 1025](http://heroesofjazz.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Papa-Celestin-1025.jpg)
Oscar Phillip Celestin (January 1, 1884 – December 15, 1954) better known by stage name Papa Celestin was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader.
Life and career
Celestin was born in Napoleonville, Louisiana, to a Creole family, son of a sugar-cane cutter. In his youth he worked on rural Louisiana plantations. Eager for a better life, he worked as a cook for the Texas and Pacific Railway, saved up money and bought used musical instruments. He played guitar and trombone before deciding on cornet as his main instrument. He took music lessons from Claiborne Williams, who traveled down the Bayou Lafourche from Donaldsonville. He played with the Algiers Brass Band by the early 1900s, and with various small town bands before moving to New Orleans in 1904, at age 20.
![Jazz trumpeter Papa Celestine plays for his young grandson on the front porch of his house, using his hat for a mute. (Photo by © Bradley Smith/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)](https://heroesofjazz.com/wp-content/uploads/cache/2023/08/Papa-Celestin-1019/1170218397.jpg)
![1917: The original Tuxedo Band in 1917, famous because all its members later became jazz stars in their own right. They are: from left to right, back row; Jim Moore, William Ridgeley, Papa Celestin and John Lindsley, centre row; Ernest Trepanier, Armand Piron, Tom Penton and John St Cyr, and in front: Clarence Williams. (Photo by Evans/Three Lions/Getty Images)](https://heroesofjazz.com/wp-content/uploads/cache/2023/08/Papa-Celestin-1018/1219019572.jpg)