Austin Topper Peralta[2][3] (October 25, 1990 – November 21, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer from Los Angeles, California.
[7][8] At age 10 while learning classical piano, he developed an interest in jazz when a friend gave him a Bill Evans CD.
[13] Peralta studied classical piano for five years at Pepperdine University[14] and later with jazz pianist Alan Pasqua and saxophonist Buddy Collette.
[15] At age 15, he performed at the 2006 Tokyo Jazz Festival with his group, The Hour Trio,[11] and with Chick Corea and Hank Jones.
[5] He has also had multiple performances at the California Institute of the Arts; the first being a collaboration with David Wexler (aka Dr. Strangeloop) in the summer of 2010, and the second as the Austin Peralta Group in 2012.
Peralta was a touring member of jazz group The Cinematic Orchestra and performed regularly with Allan Holdsworth and Virgil Donati.
[19] The ensemble name Deathgasm is an inspiration from the Bardo Thodol (the so-called Tibetan Book of the Dead) and the Gaspar Noé film Enter the Void.