"Take five" got me into "classical" jazz, though it was consider a progressive song at the time.
As a personnel journey through music, I refused to get stuck in the 80s music that I grew up with. Luckily the 90s was musically dead with nothing but digital sampling, and therefore jazz gave me the incentive expanded my music collection beyond soul/R&B (and soft-rock, reggae, Afro beat). Although I have listen to some Jazz artist like George Benson, Grover Washington, and Watanabe, I never really thought of them as Jazz musicians. It was until I came across artist such as David Brubeck, David Benoit, and Miles Davis when I started to appreciate Jazz. I Then went back and explore George Benson with his classic Breezin' (1976), Miles Davis' Kind of Blue, and Head Hunters by Herbie Hancock.
Though I love the few classics, I must admit that most of my CD collections are on contemporary Jazz; artist such as Stranz and Farah, Acoustic Alchemy, Jonathan Butler, Ottmar Liebert, Wayman Tisdale (RIP), and so forth. The good thing is the old folks like Santana, Earl Klugh, Bob James (and his quartet - Four Play), Stanley Clarke, and of course George Benson are still kicking...