I would never attempt to learn a genre by going off any list; its like going from The Bible to The Karon to The 911 Commission Reports. Too much of a gap there
I've been buying all the jazz I can afford since September and haven't even scratched the surface. The most interesting aspect, to me, is that many of the Bop era artists had open contracts, and were basically for-hire for other people's albums. Particularly Blue Note contracted artists. Hank Mobely appears on Art Blakey's album, who appears on Lee Morgan's album, who appears on Clifford Jordan's album, who appears on Eric Dolphy's album....
I've typically bought a few albums from one artist, picked a supporting member and bought a few of theirs, etc, etc. Its such a fun way to discover the music, and gives a real sense of history of how all the artists relate to each other.