Pantoja Returns the Compliment : Music: Because a trumpeter took note of his tunes, the Brazilian composer was inspired to keep writing.

The ultimate compliment you can pay Rique Pantoja is to play one of his tunes. The Brazilian keyboardist-composer has written hundreds of songs since he began composing at age 18, numbers that have been performed or recorded by such artists as trumpeters Chet Baker and Randy Brecker and saxophonist Ernie Watts.

“A composer is so grateful when he discovers that other people are playing his tunes,� said Pantoja, 36, who was born in Rio de Janeiro and has been living in Northridge for eight months.

Pantoja, who toured Europe with Chet Baker in the early ‘80s and subsequently recorded with him, said the late trumpeter was a champion of his music. “Chet would introduce me as ‘a brave new composer from Brazil,’ � said Pantoja, who appears Friday and Saturday at Mucho Gusto in Costa Mesa.

“That made me think that I should go and work more on my compositions,� Pantoja said, speaking with a cheerful voice that revealed a fairly colorful Portuguese accent during a phone interview from his home.

“Chet played such a wide repertoire, he had played so many great melodies, that because he played mine, it was an incentive to go on. It kept me believing in what I was doing. But I don’t know where it will take me.�

Pantoja said he writes mostly tunes that mix a Brazilian rhythm with a jazz feeling, meaning that there is almost always some room for improvisation. But he also has written pop ballads, straight-ahead jazz numbers and even salsa tunes.

“Some of my tunes are typical bossa novas, some are sambas, some are more funky,� he said.

The artist cited a number of influences: choros , the Brazilian form of improvised music that developed early in this century and then evolved into a musical genre that mirrored the complexity of be-bop; American jazz players, including Erroll Garner, Chick Corea and Bill Evans, and such pop performers as the Beatles, Stevie Wonder and James Taylor.

The composer’s pieces have been recorded by numerous Brazilian artists, including a band he led, Cama de Gato, which means “cat’s cradle� in Portuguese.

Chet Baker also recorded many. A version of “So Hard to Know,� which Pantoja and Baker released on their 1986 duo album, was performed by Baker in “Let’s Get Lost,� the Bruce Weber documentary on his life. The piece also can be heard on the soundtrack of a recent feature film, “Chains of Desire.� Additionally, three of his numbers have been heard on TV’s “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.� “Arborway,� which was also recorded by Baker, has been heard on the daytime soap, “Santa Barbara.�

Pantoja, who began playing guitar at age 8 and added piano at age 13, didn’t set out to be a composer. “When I was learning tunes, I would come up with melodies of my own and wonder if someone had written it, and I’d find out no one had, so I kept going,� he said.

Studying composition and piano with Charlie Banacos at the Berklee School of Music in Boston from 1975-79 focused Pantoja’s desire to compose. “I told Charlie I wanted to learn about Chick Corea, and he said I already had rhythm, I needed to study be-bop,� Pantoja said. “He made me listen to instruments other than piano, so that I had a bigger scope. He made my style stronger.�

He spent most of the ‘80s touring with such Brazilian superstars as Gilberto Gil, Djavan and Milton Nascimento. Those gigs aided in Pantoja’s development as a writer. , he said. “I arranged a lot of pieces for those guys, and did introductions for tunes, which are both forms of composition,� he said.

Pantoja believes that it might be composing that will grant him a bit of immortality. “Writing is a very solid thing,� he said. “A good composition will last forever.�

* Keyboardist Rique Pantoja, woodwind player Gary Herbig, bassist Jimmy Earl and drummer Ron Wagner perform Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., at Mucho Gusto, 263 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa. Free. (714) 631-4009.