Do you like Jazz the same as I do? Having told you about Jazz Philharmonic Hall, I would like to present you now a more informal place with live jazz performances!
Enter “The Hat” -– there are no announcements, no pre-scheduled repertoire, but you can be sure: musicians will play real jazz. Every evening!
The bar was founded by Billy Novik – the frontman of the St. Petersburg jazz band “Billy’s Band”. His concept was to recreate the atmosphere of America in the ’50s. By the way, before he started to play jazz on a professional level and founded his own jazz bar, he worked as a medical pathologist.
Every performance at “The Hat” starts at 23:00 and lasts for 3 hours or even longer. Russian and international musicians and bands change during the session. It seems like all of them try to compete with each other, but it’s not true: here everyone is part of a big international jazz family.
Once, I was lucky enough to enjoy an unbelievable performance of our local jazz band playing together with guys from New York.
Normally, the bar gets pretty crowded, so I would recommend to come a bit earlier, like at 22:30. You can take a seat and some drinks while waiting for the live performance. But coming later, during the jam session, is not a problem.
The entrance is free and everyone is welcome to enjoy the music.