Though his commercial discography has been scant, this 27-track collection recorded 1959-1961 by folklorist Dr. Harry Oster and jazz archivist Dick Allen should raise public awareness of this colorful and unusual New Orleans jazzman named Lemon Nash.

He was one of the few to ever pluck a ukulele professionally and was part of traveling medicines shows during the ’20s where faux bottles of miracle elixir were hawked to an unsuspecting public. In the late ’50s, he was a fixture at jam sessions held at Larry Borenstein’s St. Peter Street art gallery (now the site of Preservation Hall) where such stalwarts as Kid Thomas, Billie and DeDe Pierce and Creole George Guesnon were often in attendance.

Performing solo, he interprets a wide swath of material ranging from trad jazz and blues to gospel, swing and even early rock ’n’ roll on the uke. Some tunes, “Bourbon Street Parade” and “Sweet Georgia Brown,” are more familiar while a few like as “Brownskin Come and Go” and patriotic songs, “Those Drafting Blues,” possibly of WWI vintage, seem to have evaporated from the modern day American landscape.

Nash plays with a quick rhythmic strum, occasionally mixing in dead-on finger picking between chords on the slower bluesier numbers. Since the uke is universally known for its euphoric tone and bright chords, the blues numbers aren’t as mournful as they would be on other instruments. In the course of these proceedings, short interview snippets give insight into Nash’s storied life as a traveling tent troubadour, the dances of the day and crazy, colorful characters like Barrelhouse and the guitar-banging, hollerin’ Rabbit Brown.

Fascinating stuff.