Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall — aka corto.alto — has had an incredible couple of years. His debut album Bad With Names was shortlisted for the iconic Mercury Prize (2024), won ‘Best Album’ at the Scottish Jazz Awards, and took out ‘Act of the Year’ (public vote) at the 2025 Jazz FM Awards, with Ezra Collective and Nubya Garcia the other two nominees.

In 2024, the band played 75 shows, including closing the main stage at We Out Here, and appearances at North Sea Jazz Festival, Montreux, Cross The Tracks, plus a sold-out UK tour that culminated in a 2,000-cap hometown show at the legendary Barrowland Ballroom. In 2025, they’re set to play the iconic West Holts Stage at Glastonbury and headline the Sunrise Stage at Latitude Festival.

Following the success of Bad With Names and a string of remixes with some of the UK and Europe’s most in-demand producers — including BAKEY and Opolopo — Liam released 30/108 in June 2024, dropping 30 tracks in 30 days, each paired with a daily performance and breakdown video.

Fresh from their debut US shows at SXSW 2025, the band just released a new track — 31.Bleep (01) — with more music to come before the year is out. A headline US tour is locked in for October, followed by UK and EU dates, including their biggest London show to date at KOKO in Camden.

corto.alto has been described as a traditional jazz head raised in the age of the internet — bringing a fresh perspective to a heady mix of intuitive improvisation, electronic production, broken beat bounce and bass-heavy dub.

Champion support has come from Gilles Peterson, Jamie Cullum, BBC 6 Music, KCRW, Jazzwise, FIP Radio in France, RRR in Australia, and the editorial teams at Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. corto.alto continues to build a strong, dedicated fanbase across the UK and Europe.