Preference for Performing Pans Out for Pianist : Jazz: On a bandstand is where Gerard Hagen of Lake Forest most wants to be. He’ll be in his element Sunday when he appears with his quartet at the Old Dana Point Cafe.

Pianist Gerard Hagen is a realist.

When the Bismarck, N.D., native arrived in Orange County in the mid-’80s, he expected to find work, but probably not too much as a performing jazz musician, his occupation of choice. As jazz-club habitues know too well, regular employment on the club and concert scene belongs to a very fortunate few.

So Hagen, an enterprising fellow, had a couple of other ideas cooking when he came here. He decided he’d try his hand at teaching--after all, he was armed with a master’s degree in music education from Northern Michigan University. And since he enjoys playing solo piano, he thought he’d see if he could find a few jobs doing that.

Both panned out: These days, Hagen, 32, earns his living chiefly as a piano instructor and as a solo artist on the casual circuit.

Hagen’s heart, however, remains in jazz, and when he’s on a bandstand, as he will be with his quartet Sunday at the Old Dana Point Cafe, the pianist is where he most wants to be.

“When everything clicks, playing jazz gives me the most exhilarating feeling I can think of,” Hagen said during a recent phone interview from the Lake Forest home, where he lives with his wife, Sheryl. “There’s an energy that I don’t get in any other way. To be able to get up and play something and have people enjoy it, and take something with them, that’s a remarkable feeling. . . .

“I like the idea of trying to get out whatever musical ideas I have in my head, to be able to express them and not have to go through what some other composer already wrote.”

Sunday’s performance is one of the first by Hagen’s latest quartet, which features the first-rate trumpeter Kye Palmer and a solid rhythm team of drummer Kevin Tullius and bassist Chris Colangelo. The pianist fronted another similarly sized ensemble a few years ago, but he disbanded it when a series of solo piano jobs came his way. Later, he was a member of saxophonist Dan St. Marseille’s quintet. Last August, Hagen felt ready to begin rehearsing a new band, which has since performed at Cafe Concerto in Costa Mesa.

“I wanted to be in control, have my own band, where I get to pick the direction the music was going to go and take the responsibility for getting the work,” Hagen said.

The band is ripe to start appearing more frequently, Hagen said. “There’s an energy building up,” he said. “We’ve been rehearsing for a while and everyone is excited to get out and present the band to an audience, and get that feedback.”

The leader describes his quartet’s repertoire--half of which is original material--as coming out of the be-bop genre, which Hagen says simply means “good, swinging jazz music,” but with a contemporary flavor.

“We cover a fair amount of ground,” Hagen said. One of his tunes, “This Time Counts,” has an Art Blakey, backbeat feel, though the bridge goes to waltz time. Tullius’ compositions embrace such influences as Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny. The group also plays jazz classics by Wayne Shorter and Thelonious Monk, and standards that haven’t been overdone.

Citing jazz pianists Kenny Barron and Bill Evans as major influences, Hagen called his style as “strongly melodic”--the same words he used to qualify Palmer’s work.

“I met Kye with Dan two years ago and I liked him right off the bat,” he said. “I was looking for someone like him, a lead player who was strong and melodic who could really hold an audience.”

While Hagen has yet to appear with any major jazz names and hasn’t made any recordings, he obviously hopes that will change. In the meantime, he’s enjoying his solo engagements--”I play as much improvised music as I can get away with,” he quipped--and his teaching.

The pianist operates an in-home studio, where he sees six to eight students a day. Mostly he teaches jazz improvisation, but he also offers basic piano instruction.

Of course, Hagen would rather play more jazz, but, for now, he’s not complaining. “Listen, I’m living in Southern California and playing and teaching music. (It) could be a lot worse.”

Gerard Hagen’s quartet plays from 5 to 9 p.m. on Sunday at the Old Dana Point Cafe, 24720 Del Prado Ave., Dana Point. No cover, $5 minimum. (714) 661-6003.