Laurent Coq was born on Feb 22, 1970 in Marseille. The youngest of five boys, he grew up in the countryside around Aix-en-Provence. He started studying piano at age 7. Three years later, he entered the Aix National Dance and Music Conservatory in Ms Courtin's class (also Helene Grimaud's teacher).
In 1988, he was awarded First Prize and moved to Paris where he registered at the C.I.M (in those days, the number one jazz school in France). He studied with Emmanuel Bex, and met with drummer Daniel Garcia Bruno and bass player Jules Bikoko bi Njami with whom he formed the Ad For Tri trio.

From 1989 to 1994, he multiplied experiences. He played in alto saxophonist Patrick Bocquel's Quintet, a band that made quite an impact in winning numerous competitions, one of which the CRPLF (French-as-a-first-language National Radios), led to the recording of Radio Days. He also took part in vibraphone player Oriol Bordas's band, Paris Barcelona Swing Connection. Among the many performances, there was a french tour with special guest American Saxophonist Frank Wess (Vienne 1993). One must also mention his collaboration with singer Marcel Kanche, with whom he toured Europe and recorded two albums (Barclay).

In 1994, he obtained a Grant from the French Government for a six months stay in New York. He took lessons from piano players Mulgrew Miller and John Hicks, but most notably from Bruce Barth who will soon become his mentor and a true friend, which he remains to this day. Back in Paris, Laurent turned this precious experience into a Quartet that included his old pals Jules Bikoko bi Njami and Daniel Garcia Bruno and young tenor Jean-Christophe Béney.

In 1996, the composer signed his first film score for actor/director Alain Beigel. Il y a des journées qui mériteraient qu'on leur casse la gueule won First Prize at the Meudon Short Films Festival, and the Grand Prix at the 1997 Metz Festival.

In February 1997, the quartet went to New York to record the first album as leader. Bruce Barth wore the artistic producer's hat and David Baker engineered the session. Thanks to Bruce, the album will be released on prestigious german label Enja. Jaywalker was an immediate success with the critics, and this first public recognition has since being maintained.
Not long before, Laurent Coq had met with singer Laurence Allison, and together they started to work thoroughly on Duke Ellington's repertoire. In 1997, they recorded Soul Calls, with a two-saxophones sextet.
After six years of complicity, Daniel Garcia Bruno chose to devote himself to more personal projects, and Philippe Soirat took over the drums in the leader's quartet. Two years of hard work will produce a new repertoire still very much influenced by the New York scene, and an even more distinctive sound. At the time, Laurent Coq pursued his close collaboration with Laurence Allison taking a fresh approach to Bud Powell's and Thelonious Monk's worlds of music..

On the movie front, 1997 was an intense year. Teaming up with guitar player and composer Benjamin Raffaelli, Laurent signed the film scores of Laurent Benegui's Mauvais Genre, and J'irai au paradis car l'enfer est ici by Xavier Durringer. In 1998, Laurent and Benjamin met again on Mille Bornes by Alain Beigel...

In 1999, Laurent Coq produced two albums in New York; Versatile with his own quartet -- with the same Jaywalker crew comprising of Bruce Barth as artistic producer and David Baker as sound engineer -- and Laurence Allison's Thelonious & Bud Together Again with her sextet. It will take more than a year for these two recordings to be published on the Cristal label, but this tenacity will be rewarded with unanimous praise.
The same year, Laurent signed the original score of the fairy tale Airou ! J'ai compris written and directed by Michel Uzan for the National Theater of Nanterre.

In 2000, he settled in New York where he met with another French expatriate, the saxophone player Jérôme Sabbagh. Frequently, he came back to Europe, and soon presented a one-of-a-kind trio with two saxophones (tenor David El-Malek and alto Olivier Zanot). In 2001, while in Paris, the band played at the Duc des Lombards and the concert was recorded by Claude Carriere and Jean Delmas for their weekly show on French National Radio, 'Jazz Club'. Laurent Coq Blowing Trio/Live@the Duc des Lombards received the Grand Prix du Disque Charles Cros 2002.

On May 2001, Laurent was granted an American Artist Visa. He was cast in Sarah Morrow's band for a few appearances in the U.S, notably at the New York JVC Festival and Washington jazz club Blues Alley. This was also the opportunity for him to meet with Mark Turner.
Three days before 9-11, Laurent Coq flew back to Paris to record Jean-Christophe Béney's Cassiope.
Most importantly, since the summer, the composer had a new quartet that proudly endorsed New York dynamism. The group featured tenor saxophonist Jérôme Sabbagh, and two young musicians recently arrived from Los Angeles, bass player Brandon Owens and drummer Damion Reid. Together, they were going to develop an original music that was the natural consequence of the leader's previous years of work. On several occasions, they traveled overseas, and they performed at the 2002 Paris JVC Festival.
In 2002, Laurent Coq played every Monday in a Village joint in NY, the Cafe Creole.

In March 2003, the quartet recorded Like A Tree In The City in a New Jersey studio. The album came out simultaneously in Europe on Cristal and in the U.S on Sunnyside, and served as a milestone in the career of an artist who continues to create a totally unique world.

Laurent Coq was nominated by the French Jazz Academy for the Year's Best Musician Award.

In the fall of 2003, Laurent Coq signed the original score for Laurent Benegui's Qui perd gagne, written for a 72 piece symphonic orchestra (with the exception of the closing credits song written for the Vintage Orchestra and sung by Allen Hoist). The soundtrack was released on june 22, 2004, one day before the movie.

In August 2004, Laurent got on stage for the first time with a piano trio for four nights in a row at the Sunside in Paris, bringing along a drummer with whom he played quite a bit over the past years in New York, Otis Brown III. This naturally led to the recording of his first piano trio album for which he called the bass player everybody digs (Dianne Reeves, Joshua Redman, Charles Llyod...), Reuben Rogers. The session took place in a little Soho studio during two evenings of November 2004. Spinnin' is to be released both in France (spring '05 on Cristal) and the U.S (fall 2005 on Sunnyside).
In December 2004, French jazz magazine Jazzman asked him to conduct an interview with guitar player Pat Metheny that made the February issue front cover. He also wrote a long biography of soul singer Donny Hathaway for new magazine Muziq.

The piano player spent the winter of 2005 in Paris where he was in residence at the jazz club La Fontaine, alternating with the Blowing trio featuring sax players David El-Malek and Olivier Zanot, and another trio with Mathias Allamane on bass and drummer Phiippe Soirat.

In June 2005, he played at the Paris Jazz Festival for the release of Spinnin', along with Darryl Hall and Otis Brown III.

In September 2005, Laurent was featured in Elisabeth Kontomanou's new album untitled Waiting For Spring playing two duos, including his own composition Claude Sait renamed The Bird In Me.
In October, he joined the Edim staff (Paris music school).

In 2006, Laurent multiplied his sideman engagements.
First with American Saxophonist Rick Margitza who had a weekly gig at la Fontaine.
That was also in this club that saxophonist Sophie Alour explored new directions and put her new quartet together along with Laurent.
In the same period of time, Singer Sonia Cat-Berro called our man on a regular basis.
In June 2006, french saxophonist Julien Lourau asked Laurent to replace Bojan Zulfikarpasic to play at the National Music Day. The next day, they flew to New York where they met with bass player Thomas Bramerie and drummer Ari Hoenig and then to Haiti for an intense week. They played two gigs there ; one in Port-au-Prince, and the other in Jacmel, cradle of Haitian's culture. The Quartet Jacmel was born.