 There were several active jazz orchestras, performing mostly swing music, such as “Jazz Ovcharov” and “The Optimists”.After the Second World War, as Bulgaria was under communist rule, music and all art was subjected to a set of criteria that was not compatible with the free nature of jazz, nor with the rawness of improvised instrumental folk music that could naturally fit within the jazz aesthetic.In the aesthetic set by the government, folklore was only acceptable as an inspiration that after undergoing the process of refinement in the European style could become part of creating the “national musical style.” The totalitarian rule resulted in a relative artistic stagnation in which amusement and musical experimentation were frowned upon.