Austin Peralta, Jazz Pianist and Flying Lotus Collaborator, Dead at 22

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. Flying Lotus, the beat producer and labelhead who released Peralta’s music, confirmed the news Thursday morning via Twitter, writing: “it kills me to type that we lost a member of our family, Austin Peralta. I don’t really have the right words right now.”

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. Here is Peralta’s trio during its Tokyo concert, playing McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance.” Rest in peace.