WELCOME TO BIG WORLD OF JOE JACKSON

“Look, I don’t do anything just for the sake of it. I don’t do things just to be different or to try and be clever,” says English singer-songwriter Joe Jackson.

Maybe so.

But even if it wasn’t by design, his seven-year career has managed to confound pop observers. He’s always defied predictions and has been impossible to peg.

For starters, when Jackson surfaced in 1979 with his first LP, “Look Sharp,” he was lumped in with the Angry Young Men/New Wave crowd that prized passion over proficiency--even though he’s a skilled musician-composer, trained at the London Royal Academy of Music.

Similarly, Jackson--who performs at the Universal Amphitheatre Thursday and Friday--is considered a rock musician, but his idols are people like Beethoven, Mahler, Duke Ellington and Charlie Parker.

As a recording artist, he first became difficult to pigeonhole with his third album, the reggae-influenced “Beat Crazy.” He followed that with “Jumpin’ Jive,” a collection of swing and jump-blues intended as a salute to such ‘40s figures as Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway.

Then came 1982’s “Night and Day,” an album of elegant urban pop that became Jackson’s biggest seller. The LP reached the Top 10--as did the single “Steppin’ Out”--and received two Grammy nominations. It was in this period that Jackson stopped making videos--a move that bands like Van Halen and Journey are only now beginning to follow. There are other intriguing albums in his catalogue, but you don’t look back any further than his current “Big World” to see that Joe Jackson is a true pop eccentric.

“Big World” is a three -sided album of new material recorded live--digitally on only two tracks--before audiences at New York’s Roundabout Theatre during a three-night stand in January. No over-dubbing, remixing or other changes in the music were possible--in sharp contrast to the way rock records are typically made.

Jackson acknowledges that “Big World” extends his reputation as an unconventional craftsman, but he is quick to add that that’s not really the point.

“With each album, I try to make it better than the last,” he said during a recent phone interview. “That’s more important than making it different than the last.

“But there has to be an element of challenge, there has to be a few risks taken to keep it interesting. And I don’t like to repeat myself.”

There’s no doubt about that. What’s more, he maintains that he’s always been eclectic. But interestingly--particularly in light of “Big World’s” international scope and multilingual lyric sheet--Jackson feels his artistic restlessness is a byproduct of being an Englishman.

“I don’t feel I have any really strong musical roots, or strong enough musical roots that I can justify working in a specific style,” he explained. “I think for English people, generally, it’s very hard to identify your musical roots.

“So what I’m basically saying is, not feeling that I come out of any strong musical roots or particular musical style, it’s more natural for me to mix stuff together and throw in a lot of different influences. But the important thing is, does it result in something that’s convincing and moves people in some way?”

“Big World’s” lyrics aim for increased political and social awareness, and they address travel and life in distant locales.

Despite--or perhaps because of--the added challenge and pressure involved in making “Big World,” Jackson was pleased with the results, feeling he got the “urgency and atmosphere” he wanted.

Jackson doesn’t expect many other performers to follow suit and record without the safety net of studio technology.

“I’m not holding my breath,” he said. “I don’t think there’s many people who could pull it off.”

While Jackson hopes to work that way again, he believes different projects will call for different recording techniques. Indeed, using a more conventional approach, he’s halfway into making “Big World’s” successor--an instrumental album with an ensemble called the Joe Jackson Symphony Orchestra.

Even with Jackson’s history of surprising career moves, the instrumental project still comes as a curve ball.

To Jackson, of course, it makes perfect sense.

“I don’t want to get complacent and I don’t want to get bored,” he said.