Ron Carter Feat. Austin Peralta

The Jazz Great Who Never Was (HB)

"Peralta was such a modest young man—I reached out to him as a music critic who hoped to write about his work. But he didn’t want me to hear to any of his recordings.

He insisted they weren’t good enough.

You can judge for yourself. Here he is at age 16—recording with Ron Carter. Peralta’s solo starts at the one minute mark.

Breathtaking, isn’t it?

I’ve never encountered such shyness from a recording artist. I had to order his albums from Japan because he refused to provide me with even a single track." (...)

There was much to admire here. That clean touch, reminiscent of Chick Corea’s brightly articulated tone—where every note rings like bell—jumps out at you immediately. The solos are persuasive, well beyond what I’d expect from a teen. But I especially liked the in-the-moment feeling of the music, a devil-may-care attitude that makes you feel the intensity of the song viscerally.

[ed. Learn something new every day. See also: Austin Peralta - Endless Planets (2011), and Goodbye Porkpie Hat (last performance). So many potentially great careers, prematurely cut short. Here's another one: Sean Costello (Love is Amazing), (Don't Pass Me By), many others.]