Michael Smiroldo was born in New Orleans, not far from the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, the birthplace of Jazz. As a youth, he and his friends would stroll through the Quarter and down Bourbon Street, looking in the Clubs at the action, the lights, the people, the strippers, and the Jazz musicians playing their hearts out. He stayed until chased away because of his young age. At an early age, Smiroldo became interested in art, especially the works of those who veered from classical technique. He was drawn to the impressionists, van Gogh, Gauguin, Lautrec--the light worshippers, those who would seek out a deeper knowledge of its essence and improvise with pigment and light plays, their values, and intensity manipulations. These artists reproduced the illusions that light creates, just as the Jazzman veers from classical technique and improvises with tone and value changes to create the illusions that we call Jazz. By viewing of these musicians as they played their songs, Smiroldo realized that they and the things around them exist to the eye only because of the various light sources that create them. It is these illusions that he tries to recreate with his paintings. It is for this reason that his work has been collected by admirers from both the U.S. and abroad, including celebrities from the entertainment and sports world. Just as the Jazzman steps on stage, opens his case, takes out his instrument, and begins to play and entertain his audience, so does Michael hope to do when he paints--he hopes to entertain the collectors of his work and, in turn, their friends and guests who view his work in their homes.