Haha, true. Now that I think about it, Spiritual Unity is slightly on the adventurous side. That's one of the first jazz records I came into contact however. I just love experimental and avant-garde and such

I started with Miles Davis. Kind of Blue is a really easy album to listen to and enjoy.

I love Kind of Blue, it's a late night in a smoke filled lounge and embodies cool, but I'm unsure if that's the best starter album. One reason is that it's very embedded in American culture to the point where it feels like you already know the album inside and out on your first serious listen. Jazz has also changed quite a bit since then and there are plenty of accessible artists that are a little more surprising and exciting (what jazz is all about imo) than Kind of Blue.

I'd show a first timer something like this and show them Kind of Blue further down the line.


http://youtu.be/xERcI8jGfe8
Endangered Blood - Plunge

Or this


http://youtu.be/1QViAZa41bk
Lounge Lizards - Voice of Chunk

But wouldn't that make it all the more reason to be a starter album if it's something you can get into easily? Why start with something you're not into or used to? The more exciting styuff may not appease as easily if the exciting stuff that the person's not used to is his start.

Because they're both undeniably great and accessible and funky and fun. Duh.

I don't know about you, but I loved Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme on my first try. And unless you count Aja, those were my first two jazz albums.

But I totally agree that they are funky and fun. But I think the Lou8nge Lizards vid is a little too... avant-garde for a starter album. Still, I think one should stick with what they're used to before going in. It's like me and tomatoes. I used to hate them. But when I starterd loving them in burgers, and then other things, I ended up liking them alone. It might be a slow process, but it does work. Forgive me. I just find jumping into the struff that's new to you a little risky.

I'd suggest

Jelly Roll Morton - Jelly Roll Morton and His Red Hot Peppers
Louis Armstrong - Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings
Sidney Bechet - The Essential
Duke Ellington - Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band
Count Basie - The Columbia, Okeh and Vocalion Sessions with Lester Young
Billie Holiday - The Complete Commodore/Decca Masters
Thelonious Monk - Complete Riverside
Nat King Cole - Complete Capitol Recordings of the Trio
Charlie Parker - Complete Savoy and Dial Master Takes
Charles Mingus - Passions of a Man: Complete Atlantic Recordings (1956-1961)
John Coltrane - Heavyweight Champion / The Classic Quartet on Impulse!
Miles Davis - Chronicles: Complete Prestige Recordings / Complete Miles Featuring Coltrane / Complete Columbia 1965-1968
Sonny Rollins - Complete Prestige
Clifford Brown - Brownie: Complete EmArcy
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil / Schizphrenia
Joe Henderson - In "n" Out / Mode for Joe
Lee Morgan - Sidewinder / The Cooker
Wynton Marsalis - In This House, On This Morning

This should get you started. :)

Maybe you would want to start with some swing, then bebop, and then the rest, which is a lot of really GOOD stuff!. Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, and beyond.

How about easing youself in at this end :-


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_AF4eL7_TQ