Laurent Coq

Laurent Coq, 2019

Laurent Coq (born February 22, 1970 in Marseille ) is a French jazz pianist and composer .

Live and act

Coq grew up near Aix-en-Provence , learned the piano from the age of seven and attended the Conservatory in Aix from the age of ten. In 1988 he received a first prize there and moved to Paris, where he continued his studies at CIM with Emmanuel Bex . Then he formed a trio "Ad for Tri" with the drummer Daniel Garcia Bruno and the bassist Jules Bikoko bi Njami. He played in the quintet of the alto saxophonist Patrick Bocquel (recording "Radio Days") and in the "Paris Barcelona Swing Connection" of the vibraphonist Oriol Borda . He toured with Frank Wess , u. a. in Vienna 1993.

In 1994 he went to New York on a scholarship from the Department of Culture and studied with Mulgrew Miller , John Hicks and Bruce Barth (in his own words his mentor). Back in Paris he founded a quartet with his old trio partners and the saxophonist Jean-Christophe Béney, with whom he recorded his debut album Jaywalker ( Enja ) in New York in 1997 . In the same year he accompanied the singer Laurence Allison on her album Soul Calls and 1999 Thelonious and Bud again (dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell ). In 1999 his second album Versatile ( Cristal Records ) followed with his quartet, in which Philippe Soirat had replaced Bruno. In 2000 he settled in New York, where he worked with the saxophonist Jérôme Sabbagh .

In Paris he played in a trio ("Laurent Coq Blowing Trio") with saxophonists David El-Malek (tenor) and Olivier Zanot (alto) and a live radio recording from the club "Duc de Lombards" received the 2002 award of the Academy Charles Cros . He then moved between New York and Paris, where he played with a new quartet with Sabbagh, bassist Brandon Owens and drummer Damion Reid , with whom he recorded Like a Tree in the City in 2003 . In 2005 his album Spinin was released in a trio with bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Otis Brown III , which received the Boris Vian Prix that same year . In 2005 he played regularly in the Paris club "La Fontaine", where he a. a. played with Rick Margitza . In 2006 he became a member of Sophie Alour's quartet and played with Julien Lourau , a. a. in New York, Haiti and Vietnam (replacing Bojan Z ), and Pierrick Pedron's Quartet. In 2007 his album was released with his blowing trio The Thing to Share and he accompanied Sophie Alour on her album Uncaged . Together with Miguel Zenón , he set chapters of the novel Rayuela by Julio Cortázar to music ; the album, released in 2012, was also presented in Europe in 2013.

Since 1996 he has also been working as a film composer . a. for Laurent Benegui.

In 2003 he received the Django d'Or (France) as a new talent.

Filmography (selection)

• 1997: Mauvais genre (Director: Laurent Bénégui)
• 1997: J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici (Director: Xavier Durringer )
• 1999: Mille Bornes (Director: Alain Beigel)
• 2003: Qui perd gagne! (Director: Laurent Bénégui)
• 2006: Terre d'asile (Director: Alain Beigel)

Web links

• Biography on his website (Engl.)
• Laurent Coq in the Internet Movie Database (English)