"Like A Tree In The City" is the result of three years spent in New York, and shows a switch in my carer.

The group was formed during the summer 2001. I had met with tenor Jérôme Sabbagh a year earlier, and the idea of doing something together quickly rose. Then, I heard Damion Reid in some jam session in Brooklyn and fell right away for his absolutely unique - yet so accomplished - drumming. He was just arriving from Los Angeles - where he was Billy Higgins's protégé - and soon introduced me to another young talent from California, bass player Brandon Owens.
Together, we developed our own sound throughout a new repertoire exclusively written for this quartet. At numerous times, the band went overseas, including an appearance at the 2002 JVC Paris Festival. The album came out on both sides of the Atlantic: Sunnyside for the U.S and Cristal for Europe. It contains seven tracks; Six originals, and one composition by the late Kenny Kirkland. The tunes are intense, with long developments and unusual forms. The music was recorded in a New Jersey Studio. No editing was needed.

I am as proud of this recording as one can be, and my goal is to keep pushing this envelope in the near future. With these guys, I found a place where I can bring pretty much anything, and find a different way to make it sound good every night. This is precisely what I went for when I came to NYC in the first place, and I feel particularly blessed to have found it beyond my hopes!

Laurent Coq