Expanding on a Jazz Vision : Flutist Pedro Eustache will bring what he describes as his ‘new Latin’ style to Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks.

After several years of solid success as a classical flutist in his native Cara cas, Pedro Eustache knew in the mid-’80s that it was time for a change.

“I was doing recitals, studio work, playing in the Caracas Symphonietta, the Venezuela Symphony, and teaching at a conservatory, when I felt this huge void, which was the power to compose instantaneously, that a jazz player has,” says Eustache, 35, who has lived in Southern California since the late ‘80s. “The ‘now’ nature of the music prompted me to put more emphasis on improvised music. The creativity drew me.”

So Eustache, influenced by such diverse jazz reed artists as Eric Dolphy, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman and James Newton, started expanding his musical visions, incorporating the improvised sounds that were sparking him.

He ultimately decided to come to the United States to study with Newton at CalArts in Valencia. There Eustache--who earned a diploma in flute performance from the Hector Berlioz Conservatory in Paris in 1983--received bachelor and master of fine arts degrees in jazz studies in 1991.

Performances with everyone from singer Donovan and contemporary Latin artist Alex Acuna and his band, the Unknowns, to free-thinking pianist Larry Karush followed.

“This creative expression of music has made me, I believe, a much more complete musician, not just an instrumentalist. It’s like speaking different languages, which makes you more complete in terms of communication,” says Eustache, who speaks Spanish, English, French, Haitian Creole and a “little Portuguese.”

With each language, Eustache says, you get the idiosyncrasies of a culture, “its way of living, of thinking. With different forms of music, it’s the same way.”

A man in search of still fresher horizons, Eustache says that although he enjoys his performances interpreting a variety of Latin-based music with Acuna, violinist Susie Hansen and others, he seeks something different. For his appearance Sunday at Le Cafe in Sherman Oaks, Eustache is going to present what he calls “new Latin jazz.”

“This music is not as strictly Afro-Cuban-based Latin jazz, like Susie’s,” says Eustache. “It’s coming from another background--my background--so it’s mostly Afro-Venezuelan. Venezuela has a lot of tradition, a lot of rhythms, and these are less known” than the Afro-Cuban rhythms that have been at the root of Latin jazz since trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie incorporated Latin beats with be-bop in the late 1940s. “I want to mix this Afro-Venezuelan music, and maybe some Afro-Uruguayan, but not Brazilian or Cuban, with improvised jazz.”

Eustache, a soft-spoken, unassuming man, says he doesn’t see this new direction as anything to thump his chest about.

“I just want to do something different, so I’m exploring this new passion, but without the arrogance of considering myself an innovator,” he says. “I just want to have some fun.”

At Le Cafe, Eustache will be accompanied by an outstanding crew, including Ramon Stagnaro (guitars), Walter Rodriguez (drums), Dave Carpenter (bass) and guest Ottmaro Ruiz (keyboards).

He says he’ll offer a few classic standards along with his personal style of Latin music. If he plays half as strongly as he does when he appears with Hansen, it seems sure he’ll get the joint jumping.

“Pedro has a real spark to his playing,” says Hansen, who used Eustache’s talents on her debut CD, “Solo Flight” on Jazz Caliente Records. “There’s a fire and energy in him that never fails me.”

Eustache’s roots in classical music run deep. He started on recorder at age 9, then added flute at 14.

He studied flute in Europe with two noted teachers--Ramon Guiot in France and Aurele Nicolet in Switzerland--and on his return to Venezuela became principal flutist in several ensembles.

He says that although he no longer plays classical music, “combining the classical techniques with the Venezuelan and the jazz--that’s my voice.”

WHERE AND WHEN

Who: Pedro Eustache.

Location: The Room Upstairs at Le Cafe, 14633 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

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

Price: $5 cover, two-drink minimum.

Call: (818) 986-2662.