Frownland

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

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.