Address: 8 Dragan Tsankov Blvd, Sofia
Tel: 963 06 96, 946 13 77
[www.swinginghall.com]
Working hours: Tues-Sun, 9pm-4am
Parking: available

Jazz isn't exactly one of the prevailing musical genres in Sofia (or anywhere else in Bulgaria, for that matter) at the moment. In fact, an informal survey I've done over the past few months on what my friends here (Bulgarians as well as expats) think of jazz music has yielded a spectrum of responses, from an enthusiastic "YEAHHH!" to a wrinkled nose and a lacklustre "Ermmm...".

To be fair, I should learn to phrase the question more specifically, as jazz has taken on many shapes and flavours in its continuing evolution - traditional jazz, Dixieland, free jazz, jazz-funk and acid jazz, to name only a few - and everyone has his or her own idea of what jazz is. The camps tend to be sharply divided along categorical lines; one of my friends listens to acid jazz and dismisses Duke Ellington and his ilk as passe. Another friend - who is just as young as the acid-jazz fan - is crazy about traditional jazz to the point where I wouldn't be surprised if he had posters of Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong plastered on his living-room walls.

When Swingin' Hall opened in 1995, it started out primarily as a jazz club. Almost every notable Bulgarian jazz musician performed there - Vassil Parmakov, Eko, Anton Donchev, and Georgi Donchev, to name only a few. International jazz artists like Spiro Gyra and Al Di Meola also came over to play.

Later on, a second stage was added and the variety of music expanded; now you'll find a dizzying lineup of genres (including jazz) stuffed into every week at Swingin' Hall.

Recent and upcoming acts include rock band Kaskadiori, pop singer Ani Lozanova, the Bulgarian Latin/Caribbean group  Latinopartizani, La Muchedumbre, whose style is a hybrid of punk and ska (a high-speed version of Jamaican reggae), and pop/rock/acoustic trio Angel Sky. Musicians from other countries continue to make their appearance here, including ska veterans The Toasters, who hail from New York City.

The front room, which is quite cosy and fills up fast, is a great venue for smaller bands with less decibel-dependent repertoire. Comfortably cushioned bench seats with pillows line the walls not occupied by the bar. In the middle stand a few tables with tall, rather tippy stools. Coloured polka-dots swoop around the room (and occasionally into your eyes), courtesy of a lighting system that would be more at home in a disco. A mirrored ball twirls overhead. The atmosphere is friendly, as is the staff. The drink prices are reasonable; a 300 ml draught beer runs two leva.

The larger back room is a low-ceilinged catacomb of wide brick archways and reputedly seats 200 (snugly!). The stage here is larger and is usually reserved for more well known acts. Whenever there are two bands playing at the same time, the headliner plays back here, while another band of similar genre is usually featured up front.

Recently I was there on a Tuesday night, and there was a five-piece trad-jazz band (drums, double-bass, guitar, accordion and vocalist), which is probably as many as can fit on the small stage. On the weekends and sometimes during the week, there's usually something going on in both rooms; tonight (presumably because it was only a Tuesday), the back room was dark and only the front stage was occupied.

The musicians I've talked to who have played at Swingin' Hall enjoy it; one reason is that they don't have to load in all their amplifiers, cables and microphones. They can simply plug into the club's sound system (each of the rooms has one) and let the club's sound engineer handle everything. That night I was there, the band sounded great, because the guy running the control board really knew what he was doing. Each instrument, including the voice, was nicely balanced. The volume level was present enough to get the audience's attention, but my friends and I could still converse without having to scream into one another's ears.

There was a five leva admission charge that night; for certain acts, however, you have to buy tickets in advance and shell out a little more (tickets to The Toasters, for example, were 17 leva).

Swingin' Hall has a very good reputation among musicians and music fans, and deservedly so. If you're not into jazz, you'll find plenty of other reasons to check this club out. And if you are into jazz, it's still the place to go - just as it was in its early days.