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RIP - Austin Peralta


Jeff Wexler

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My son David's closest friend has died at age 22.

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Austin Peralta

"OCTOBER 25, 1990 – NOVEMBER 21, 2012

Austin Peralta, a prodigious, barely 22-year-old pianist celebrated for uniting jazz with instrumental hip-hop and electronica, died Wednesday. While no official reports have yet surfaced, and no cause of death has yet been stated, word of Peralta’s shocking death began spreading virally late Wednesday.

The son of skateboarder and film director Stacey Peralta, the Los Angeles-raised musician began piano lessons at the age of six, and later studied with pianist Alan Pasqua. At the age of 15 in 2006, he played the Tokyo Jazz Festival.

Peralta recorded three CDs: Maiden Voyage, a 2006 disc that featured bassist Ron Carter; Mantra, also released in 2006, which featured vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and bassist Buster Williams; and last year’s Endless Planets, which featured saxophonist Ben Wendel.

Peralta’s work for Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder label and with bassist Thundercat (Steven Bruner, brother of drummer Ronald Bruner Jr., who played the Tokyo concert with Peralta shown above) made him a leading figure among young music fans keen on amalgamations between jazz and contemporary grooves and sonorities.

Peralta performed in Ottawa almost a year ago at the Avant Garde Bar as the special guest of the Franky Rousseau Large Band.

He was reported to have performed Tuesday night at the Blue Whale jazz club in Los Angeles."

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A nice article, and amazing clips, on NPR's Jazz blog:

A Young Prodigy's Search, Cut Short

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2012/11/29/166030449/a-young-prodigys-search-cut-short

"I learned about Austin Peralta, who died last week at age 22, the same way most folks away from Southern California's jazz scene did. For most intents and purposes, his third album, Endless Planets, put him on the national map. He was 20 when it came out in early 2011, and the child prodigy buzz was part of the hype around the record. Those who have been around the business grow a skeptical frown when someone mentions "child prodigy," but this was somewhat different. Endless Planets isn't a rote recital of precocious virtuosity, and even sounds thoughtfully designed to avoid that impression. Clearly, the kid behind it was trying to grow."

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Horrible.

Just read about this now.

I've worked with Stacey a number of times on commercials and docs through the years and he's a good person. He would brag quite a bit about his son's talent.

The family, David, and those who knew him will have a tough time making sense of this. It's an unforgiving, ever changing, tricky world we live in and events like this define and change those they touch forever. As always, there are lessons to be had and time bears that out.

Having lost family members in similar ways I can only give you my love let you know that there's loads of places to go to sort things like out, express your grief or to get help. Use those resources.

Scott Harber

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