Increasingly, many Bulgarians towns and even villages these days host jazz festivals of various standing and quality. Visitors will be bemused to hear Dixie being played in some remote corner of northern Bulgaria or fusion blasting out by the Black Sea coast. Yet there is only one place that attempts not just to offer a few jams and plenty of drinks, but also to visualise, literally, the music and the performers.

Drummer Rod Youngs, by Dimitar Aleksov (Bulgaria)

Welcome to Yambol, a large yet often overlooked city in eastern Bulgaria, just off the Sofia-Burgas motorway. Owing to the enthusiasm of Konstantin Zaykov, a local jazz aficionado and himself a photographer, the first international jazz photography competition took place. It included the works of 100 photographers from 50 different countries and was endorsed by the Photographic Society of America, the International Association of Art Photography in Switzerland, and the Yambol Photographic Society.

Bass player Jeremiah Edwards, by Arturo Di Vita (Italy)

According to Zaykov, jazz photography – as any photography that attempts to "freeze" the performing arts – may sound like a contradiction in terms. But it needn't be, Zaykov adds. People want to see images of their favourite musicians long after the lights have gone out. An e-catalogue that Zaykov is preparing at the moment will give them an opportunity to do jazz that. 

Jean-François Charbonnier, by Guy Fonck (Luxembourg)

Boris Kovač, photographed by Aleksandar Alempijevic (Serbia)

American jazz drummer Billy Hart, by Arturo Di Vita (Italy)

Slawek Wierzcholski, harmonica, photographed by Mariusz Buczma (Poland)

Saxophonist Craig Bailey, by Dimitrina Andreeva (Bulgaria)