Brazilian Jazz can refer to both a genre, largely influenced by Bossa nova, that exists in many nations and the jazz music of Brazil itself.
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Música Instrumental Brasileira
The term "Música Instrumental Brasileira", which literally means "Brazilian Instrumental Music", is used in Brazil as a generalized term to refer to jazz as well as several instrumental forms of "art music" and the like. The term's fluidity or ambiguity allows for the fact that Brazilian jazz musicians themselves do not always have much in common with each other and might be willing to play in several genres. Terms for subgenres such as brazuca, ecm, and fusion are more specific to jazz. In Brazil they make note of distinctiveness between their jazzier or jazz instrumentals from that of Latin jazz. The influences of earlier Brazilian music like samba and choro are highlighted or, possibly, even exaggerated. The efforts to highlight specifically my earlier influences may relate to nationalistic and class tension on the history of the music. Jazz or Jazzy music has at times been controversial for being seen as representing a foreign "contamination" of native forms like choro. On the other hand Bossa, a jazz influenced form of Brazilian music, came largely among the upper-class and sometimes faced criticism for being "bourgeois."
Bossa nova and jazz
Bossa's relationship to jazz, and popularity with American jazz musicians, led to Brazilian musicians, such as Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, spending time in the United States and connecting to its jazz scene. Egberto Gismonti and Hermeto Pascoal would also have a close association to jazz. This, combined with earlier collaborations between America jazz musicians and Bossa nova artists, also led to "Brazilian jazz" as a kind of genre Americans, such as Chick Corea, would play.