My mother loved the Big Bands as this type of music WAS the Pop music of her day, so I was exposed to Jazz since early childhood. Back in the 60's/70's, Rock artists were allowed to jam so recordings by groups like Traffic, Cream, Zappa, Hendrix, etc. released records with long solos. I enjoyed following the thought process of the musicians when they'd solo. From there it was a short hop to listening to Jazz artists doing their thing! I learned about structure and composition later but yeah...Jazz rules!!!
