Liam Shortall on spontaneous gig setlists: ‘We get a vibe on the night’
Acclaimed jazz multi-instrumentalist corto.alto (aka Liam Shortall) is not a man to be boxed in by labels. He talks to Claire Sawers about remaining creatively open-minded, his love of the Glasgow music scene and why he’d perform to an empty room
It’s hard to know what to expect from a corto.alto set. Even Liam Shortall (aka corto.alto) doesn’t always see what’s coming. ‘Sometimes festivals will ask for a rigid setlist in advance; we often don’t make one until ten minutes before. It’s instinctual; we get a vibe on the night. It’s fun to go in and out of lots of different styles,’ he understates. ‘I play with really old friends so we trust each other. We also try and trip each other up onstage by going in unexpected directions.’
The Glasgow multi-instrumentalist’s 2023 debut album Bad With Names fizzed with experiments in jazz, hip hop and club music, earning it a 2024 Mercury Prize nomination. Since then, Shortall and his band have played 250 live shows, including sell-outs at Glasgow’s Barrowlands and London’s Koko, a Glastonbury set and tours of Europe, America and Australia. He’s been credited with making jazz popular with a new, Gen Z audience, thanks to his blurring of dub beats, classical instrumentation and live loops. He’s chatting today from his girlfriend’s place in Peckham, after shooting a music video in Lagos for single ‘Go’ with Nigerian rapper Vector. ‘It was mental. We weren’t in the rich, touristy bit, we were in a dangerous area where Vector grew up. We needed security and a driver. It was intense! So crazy to be there with this famous rapper but such a good time.’
Shortall trained at Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire Of Scotland, playing trombone. He lived on Sauchiehall Street for years, soaking up death metal, art pop, reggae, post-punk: whatever was playing in the music venues where he was hanging out most nights. ‘There was always some mad performance on. There still is. We have such breadth. I feel really lucky to have grown up in Glasgow, with all these amazing artists. Walt Disco, Pippa Blundell, Doss: so many.’
Shortall began writing and producing his own EPs and that cross-pollination of styles couldn’t help but creep in. He’ll release album three, Some Small Fortune, on Ninja Tune this autumn. ‘I don’t sit down and say, “ok, I’m going to make a drum and bass track”. I listen to gabba, country, jungle, blues. It’s all interesting to me, some cool chord choice or a feeling in a lyric. It all goes into my brain and then when I write and produce, it just comes out how it comes out. I think by saying that one genre isn’t good, you’re blocking yourself off from potential creative inspiration.’
For corto.alto’s performance at The Hub, Shortall will be joined by Graham Costello (drums), Mateusz Sobieski (saxophone) and Fergus McCreadie (keys). ‘Everyone is at such a high level in their own musical projects; Fergus is working on a score for a Spike Lee film, Graham is an amazing composer, Mateusz runs LayLow jazz nights at The Rum Shack. I’ll write all the parts for them and they’ll come into the studio and make it a million times better. A lot of my role is curator, bringing really talented folks together.’
Shortall says the International Festival set might lean in an R&B, hooky pop direction; they’ve been playing around lately with a remix of Justin Bieber’s ‘Yukon’ as well as some Ice Spice and Kendrick Lamar. ‘People can come have a dance or nod along and be jazz heads; it’s all good. We would make music if there was no audience there; we just have fun. I’ve watched jazz crowds at festivals, ten people at the front with stern faces and arms folded. I come on in my kilt, with my random samples, and we turn them around. I’ve been to gigs where you feel the band thinks they are above the audience. We all have our insecurities, we all get on a level with the audience, and we’re all there to enjoy ourselves.’
Corto.alto, The Hub, 18 August, 8pm.