Hands Across the Genres : Jeff Beal is a forever moving into new musical territory, from orchestral to be-bop to New Age. It’s part of ‘expressing your song,’ he says.

Jeff Beal sees no boundaries to his music. To the 30-year-old trumpeter-pianist-composer, there’s a deep affinity shared by his handful of film scores, his orchestral pieces such as “Alternate Routes,” a concerto for jazz trumpet and orchestra, his current New Age-ish “Contemplations” CD and his past very jazz-based “Three Graces” album.

“It’s been said you spend your whole life writing the same piece of music over and over, so the challenge of the artist is to find different ways of expressing what your song is,” says Beal, who was born in the San Francisco Bay Area and now lives in Studio City with his wife, opera singer Joan Beal. “I believe that every artist has something very unique to give and a part of expressing that is occasionally changing the medium.”

Beal, who appears with his quintet Thursday at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks, has been best known for his work as a jazz performer.

He’s a flexible trumpeter who revealed his jazz-fusion / world music stance on “Objects in the Mirror,” and his hearty post-be-bop, electronic-tinged jazz side on “Three Graces,” with its Miles Davis flair.

Listeners may wonder, then, what to make of “Contemplations,” his third album for Triloka Records, on which he plays no trumpet, only piano and synthesizers.

The centerpieces of the collection, which was sparked by Christian philosopher Thomas Merton’s 1960s book, “New Seeds of Contemplation,” are several piano improvisations that recall the work of Erik Satie, who the composer identifies as a potent influence.

“I wanted to do a New Age record that was inspired by the great meditative tradition in Christianity which has not been emphasized,” says Beal, who began piano studies at age 6 and trumpet at 8. “A lot of people criticize New Age and call it drivel, but I think there was a sense of mysticism and spirituality in the style that drew me to it.”

Improvising many of the piano pieces presented a different kind of compositional challenge than writing on a score sheet and brought surprising results, he says.

“You don’t really ever have total freedom in music,” he begins. “Every time you make a choice, you’re narrowing something. Composition is the art of reduction and trying to find the core and essence of something, so, for me, improvising at the piano forced me to search for something that maybe I hadn’t done before. It made me stretch musically.”

Beal will offer pieces from both “Contemplations” and “Three Graces” when he appears at Le Cafe, bringing along guitarist Steve Cardenas, saxophonist Steve Tavaglione and others. He’s performed at the club on numerous occasions, both as leader and sideman, and Le Cafe owner Dale Jaffe says a Beal performance means quality.

“He’s prestige all the way,” says Jaffe. “I’ve rarely seen such excitement about a young musician entering the local music scene.”

Beal, who possesses a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., finds that his career as a composer is progressing at a rapid clip.

His first major work--Concerto for Jazz Bass and Orchestra--was commissioned by John Patitucci, who recorded it in 1991 on his “Heart of the Bass” album on Stretch Records.

Then came orchestral pieces such as “Alternate Routes” and Interchange for Jazz String Quartet and Orchestra. Both works, the former starring Beal and the latter a vehicle for the Turtle Island String Quartet, were performed and recorded with the Berkeley (Calif.) Symphony in February.

Now Beal is getting set to write his first TV movie score--he’s done three low-budget feature films. “Frame Up,” starring Richard Crenna and Beverly D’Angelo, will air on ABC May 20. “They want a jazz-based score, so that’s right up my alley,” he says.

When he’s completed “Frame Up,” Beal wants to get back to his jazz life and is considering making an album of jazz and pop standards.

“I’ve never done that before and I feel I might be ready to tackle it,” he says. “That’s one of the hardest things--to play music that everyone has played but have your own voice and sound and harmonic language together.”

Where and When

What: Jeff Beal plays the Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

Hours: 8:30 and 10 p.m. Thursday.

Price: $5 cover, two-drink minimum.

Call: (818) 986-2662.