Sorry to delve off topic but I have recently found myself in a similar point in music but have very little background knowledge of the area as I have basically just relied on following the rabbit hole of hip hop samples.
Donald Byrd - Ethiopian Knights (1972)
Cannonball Adderley: The Black Messiah (1972)
The Cannonball Adderly Quintet - Country Preacher (1970)
Jimmy Smith - Root Down (1972)
King Curtis - Live at the Fillmore West (1971)
Donny Hathaway - Live (1972)
Baby Huey - The Baby Huey Story (1971)
Various Artists - Wattstax (1973)
Gil Scott Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974)
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On (1971)
The Temptations - Masterpiece (1973)
The Meters - Rejuvenation (1974)
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew (1969)
Miles Davis - A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1971)
Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972)
Weather Report - Black Market (1976)
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius (1976)
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters (1973)
Herbie Hancock - Thrust (1974)
Billy Cobham - Spectrum (1973)
I will add:
Weather Report - Mysterious Traveler
Quincy Jones - I Heard That
(just because the breaks)
Bob James - 1 through 4...
Grover Washington Jr - Feels so good
Cannonball Adderley - Love Sex and the Zodiac
Cannonball Adderley - Soul Zodiac
The Meters - Look-Ka Py Py
A traditionalist might tell you to learn the head and chord changes to the 100 most recorded jazz standards as a core basis for listening/learning. Along that line consider creating play lists that are all the same tune from different artists.
Peter Gabriel is incredible. I'll be forever grateful for the hours in the garage and the car listening to music with my father. Outside of his love for ABBA, it's all be incredibly formative on my musical tastes.
Can you recommend some albums to get me started?