The request was to create a painting that included the Red Doors of the Village Vanguard Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, New York. The Vanguard Club hosted the following jazz legends in their prime: Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Art Blakey, and Charles Mingus Jr. I decided to paint them standing outside the Village Vanguard with the doors in the background, just before they enter the Red Doors to perform.