With his enthusiasm for jazz and technical mastery of the piano, France-born Laurent Coq has attracted acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Living between Paris and New York, Coq continues to perform with a Parisian trio featuring tenor saxophone player Davil El-Malek and viola player Oliver Zanot, and a New York-based quartet featuring tenor saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh, double bass player Brandon Owens, and drummer Damion Reid. Playing piano since the age if seven, Coq earned a gold medal to attend the National Academy of Arts in 1988. Opting to attend C.I.M. in Paris instead, he spent two years balancing his studies with playing in a trio featuring Jules Bikôkô bi Njami and Daniel Garcia Bruno and working as a sideman for the Paris Barcelona Swing Connection, the Bocquel Connection, and French vocalist Marcel Kanche. Receiving a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994, Coq traveled to New York to study with John Hicks, Mulgrew Miller, and Bruce Barth, who went on to produce his first two albums, Jaywalker and Changeable. Coq made his debut as a producer in 2001 overseeing the recording of French songstress Laurence Allison's album Thelonious and Bud Together Again. ~ Craig Harris
