I'm always hesitant to recommend an album, artist, or even sub-genre for newbies to start with. Hunt around; find a piece of music or artists that really resonates with you and speaks to you and you'll use that as the starting point for, if you're like me, a wild scavenger hunt that is never ending. For me, Miles Davis Bitch's Brew got the whole ball rolling, but the world of jazz is absolutely immense. Miles and Coltrane, all the big names that get thrown around a lot are great for their own individual reasons, but there's so much amazing stuff out there you'll run into sooner if you don't follow the standard prescription of picking up a copy of Kind of Blue and listening to it repeatedly until you figure out why you should be in love with it. I say just find an album with a really cool album cover and go for it. It worked for me eventually.
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