Medeski Martin and Wood got me into jazz. I found a way in. I really got into tracks like Shacklyn Knights (Dropper). Chubb Subb too. Then I worked back through Herbie Hancock and modal stuff by Miles Davies. Years ago I took part in a LMC workshop on improvisation. There were essentially three main groups - Classical / orchestral musicians, jazz musicians, us. We had a great time, listening to each other and responding in suprising ways. Funnily enough some of the more established classical musicians had real problems improvising anything.