AUSTIN PERALTA
Endless Planet
Brainfeeder Records
A deluxe edition of Endless Planet by Austin Peralta was released a few months ago by Brainfeeder Records. The record originally appeared in 2011 a year before Peralta's passing in 2012, at just 22 years of age.
Born in California in 1990 he was a child prodigy who was earning awards for his piano playing from the likes of Quincy Jones at 12, and was playing festivals with his trio as far afield as Japan by the time he was 15.
By the time he was 20 Peralta had already released two albums, but refused to promote them as they didn't allow him to be who he wanted to be. This all changed when he met Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus, brilliant recording artist but also founder and CEO of Brainfeeder Records who agreed to release whatever Peralta made next, giving him the artistic freedom he wanted for the first time, the resulting album was the Endless Planet set we have here. The record brough Peralta the wider recognition he deserved, and for Ellison, it provided the impetus to start releasing more Jazz inclined records. This would eventually lead to Kamasi Washington's equally stunning debut record, aptly titled 'The Epic'.
Austin Peralta was also a hub kind of person, the connective membrane introducing everybody to everybody else... the likes of Thundercat to Louis Cole, and Sam Gendel - later to become half of the extraordinary Clowncore was in Peralta's band; as was Cinematic Orchestra leader J.Swinscoe, evident here on the BBC Session included on the deluxe edition of Endless Planet. Peralta would return the favour by playing live with Cinematic Orchestra. He also recorded with the likes of Flying Lotus, Erykah Badu and Thundercat amongst a great many others.
It's hard to summon the words to describe how truly exceptional this album is. It's Jazz, which I know, as a moniker will be off-putting for some prospective listeners, and I get that for sure, but Endless Planet is atruly wonderful work that needs to be more widely heard.
