Sad and unexpected news: composer and pianist Austin Peralta has passed away aged 22.

In his tragically short life, the California native had proved himself to be a fearsome and precocious talent. At 15 years old, Peralta was already touring the world with his own trio, and performing alongside legends like Chick Corea and Omar Hakim. Whilst still at high school, Peralta headed up ensembles featuring luminaries like Ron Carter and Buster Williams. He also released two LPs (2006’s Maiden Voyage and Mantra) in Japan before the age of 16.

Recent years have seen him cross over from the jazz/classical fraternity into electronic circles. He was a key member of Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder family, releasing the Endless Planets LP on the label in 2011 and appearing on the producer’s recent Until The Quiet Comes LP.  He also worked as a sideman for the likes of Erykah Badu, Flying Lotus, The Cinematic Orchestra and Jaga Jazzist. Another album for Brainfeeder was in the works.

The cause of Peralta’s death is, as yet, unclear. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Update: Brainfeeder have posted an audiovisual tribute to Peralta onto their website, which is available to view here. Flying Lotus – joining the likes of Robert Glasper, Gilles Peterson and Jose James – also took to Twitter to pay tribute to Peralta’s talent: “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…we are very thankful to have had him in our lives! thankful that he left such beautiful music with us”. He also reveals that the scheduled Brainfeeder shows at Japan’s Electraglide Festival this weekend have been cancelled as a result of the news.