Spotlight On... corto.alto

It’s always exciting when someone makes a splash in the local music scene. Bad With Names, the debut LP by jazz composer corto.alto, was our album of the month last October – and nine months later, the ripples haven’t settled.

Liam Shortall, the maestro behind these electronica-infused anthems, has been busy, not just in the trombone section of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, but also with a demanding project that’s seen him complete and release 30 tracks over 30 days, culminating in the recent compilation 30/108.

It’s a sketchbook of brass and piano parts, samples and sequences, consummate collaboration and innovative effects work. If it leaves you wanting more, try to catch Shortall and his collective touring Europe throughout the year. We’ve been able to get him away from the studio and stage for a few minutes, to answer some questions ahead of his set at Kelburn Garden Party this weekend.

For 30/108, did you come into recording with strong ideas in your head for how a track was going to sound, or did you just improvise?
The beginning of the process was pretty much the same as usual – start with an idea, could be rhythmic/groove-based, harmonic, melodic or even a sample. I suppose the difference with this 30-track album is that I didn’t have any time to sit and think over any detail, which was a really nice way of forcing myself not to over-analyse the music. The whole process – writing, recording, producing, mixing, mastering – had a constant momentum, because in the back of my head I knew I had 30 tracks to finish in not much time at all.

How do you know when a track is complete?
The tracks are finished whenever it feels like the time I could spend on making it better wasn’t worth the effort anymore. Music can always become incrementally “better”, but in the time you spend to get that extra one or two percent, you could spend it making new stuff, or just enjoying something outside of music. At a point it doesn’t become worth spending more time on.

Were there any lessons you learned in recording Bad With Names that you took into 30/108? For that matter, were there any surprises in producing 30/108?
Making Bad With Names was definitely a different experience to 30/108. Bad With Names was much more thorough and I was a lot more meticulous in my approach to the composition and production of it. 30/108 felt like the stakes were much lower, for some reason. I think I hadn’t really envisioned it as a “proper” album… My goal with it was to focus more on clearing out the unfinished music folder hard drive, and to actually release the music, rather than making everything clean or perfect.

It was super liberating having the self-inflicted pressure of trying to make a “perfect” album taken off. It really freed me up, in terms of taking risks with production decisions, and again, due to the quantity of music, I didn’t have the luxury of taking my time, which in a strange way really helped, and was super enjoyable.

You've just played Eden Festival, and this interview will come out right before you play Kelburn Garden Party. Outwith Scotland, you're also playing a tonne of jazz fests this Summer, like Montreaux Jazz Festival, and Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul. What's a corto.alto gig like? Is there a big difference for you between performing and producing in the studio?
I’ve been really enjoying playing live this year, more so than before. It may be down to approaching my music with a reverse engineered approach; in the last year or so, I've been making music without concern of the limitations that playing it live can bring, and just having the approach of “we’ll figure it out later”. Whereas before I was writing music for the live gig, then going into a studio to record. This has really pushed me to think outside the box in terms of the tech we use during the gig and forced me to learn new skills for live performance.

Some feedback that I always get after live shows is that people really feel the brotherhood and friendship between us on stage. I’ve known all the guys in my band for years and years, we all grew up playing music together in one way or another, and it’s just such a privilege to share the stage with my best mates. It makes for such an exciting, fresh feeling on stage for us, and it’s amazing to be in a position where everyone in the band feels like they have the liberty to take risks within the music.

What are some of your big jazz influences? Are there any underrated jazz artists you'd like to shout out?
I love so many different classic jazz artists. I grew up [...] completely obsessed with Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Sonny Rollins to name a few… But nowadays I’ve been listening to jazz artists who are also blending their influences with electronics and other cross-genres styles. I love a band called Athletic Progression, they’re a Danish trio. Also my friend Moses Yoofee has a trio that are absolutely ridiculous. There are so many great Scottish jazz artists and groups too – Tao, Roseye, Matt Carmichael, Norman Willmore, Helena Kay and Noushy are a few I’d recommend checking out if you want to keep it local.

We usually wrap things up by asking about any upcoming projects. On top of the tour, are there any plans to get back in the studio soon?
We have an absolutely mental summer ahead with gigs, but I'm super excited to get back into the studio at the end of the year. I have big plans [...] for the next record and I'm excited to collaborate more on that, something I haven’t actually done a lot with corto.alto. The next album won’t have 30 tracks, even though I loved the experience – I’m looking forward to making a more concise and focused album three. 

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Bad With Names and 30/108 are out now via New Soil X Bridge The Gap

corto.alto play Kelburn Garden Party, Kelburn Castle, Fairlie, 7 Jul; Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul, Birmingham, 14 Jul; Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland, 16 Jul.

Follow corto.alto on Instagram @corto.alto

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