corto.alto – Bad With Names

corto.alto, aka Liam Shortall, is at the forefront of Glasgow’s thriving jazz scene. His project's hypnotic blend of soulful jazz expressed through outstanding levels of musical ability has won him loyal fans both at home and beyond. But with the arrival of their debut album, corto.alto cement themselves as a tour de force for modern jazz.

Titled Bad With Names, the 12-track work – all remarkably recorded in the confines of Shortall’s flat – brims with variety, honesty and personality. It’s also etched with resilience towards Shortall's own self-confessed vulnerabilities to making music. Despite being the youngest ever graduate of Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire programme (aged just 16 when he enrolled) and cutting his teeth playing trombone in the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, he mentions in a press release that he continues to find the process of making music “incredibly daunting and vulnerable”. Though this sounds like somewhat of a dysfunctional relationship for a prolific musician, Shortall’s passion for his craft undeniably tops above all else here. He’s not alone on the album though – joining him are some of the UK’s finest young players, including SAY Award-winning pianist Fergus McCreadie, trumpet player James Copus, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy and drummer Graham Costello. Together, they combine to convey the album’s core theme of forgiveness, alongside the anxieties of the modern world and misspent youth, all through the realms of instrumental music.

Highlights include Slope, a track resonant of recent Mercury Prize winners Ezra Collective, with its syncopated rhythms, brazen brass riffs and danceable dub feel. The inclusion of a string quartet on Hello and xoxoxo adds tender textures, pairing beautifully with glistening piano lines and atmospheric electronics, while Mechanisms shakes things up with splices of abrasive, Black Midi-esque distortion. Elsewhere, previously released single Latency channels breezy guitar tones and curious wah-wah style effects on the trumpet to create one of the album’s standout tracks, highlighting Shortall’s love for fusing live instrumentation with electronic production.

Aside from its virtuosic improvisations and intricate chord progressions, perhaps the album’s most impressive feature is its drum lines laid out by Costello. His deft touches on hi-hats and innate ability to make the kit both an instrument of melody as well as rhythm is mesmeric, akin to UK jazz contemporary Yussef Dayes. Shortall’s production of the kit is also second to none, and to hear drums of this standard is a real treat.

Forward-thinking, cohesive, complete... Bad With Names marks a new high point for Scottish jazz music.

Listen to: Slope, Hello