Even without contributions from jazz vocal greats Nina Simone and Shirley Horn, Alif Tree's third full-length album "French Cuisine" is an instant down tempo jazz classic. From its solemn opening track "Deadly Species" featuring Nina Simone, to the sheer French beauty of "Belle" featuring Anna Karina, the mind-blowing double bass groove of "Forgotten Places" featuring Shirley Horn, or the melancholy Latin melodies of "L'Amor Nunca Meura", Alif Tree present an utterly exceptional album.

1. Deadly Species
2. Belle
3. Enough
4. Forgotten Places
5. My Soul
6. Rain River
7. I Feel Blue
8. L'Amor Nunca Muere
9. Les 4 Vents
10. Mélismes Extatiques

Alif, a self-pronounced DJ and cook, who "sings, writes, plays guitars, pianos, percs and scratch samples, then records, mixes, remixes again and again and often speaks to himself", is also a sound engineer, producer, and "fervent defender of acoustic sounds" who has navigated through recording studios, sound stages, cinema and television over the past 15 years.

If your palate includes a taste for vintage jazz style, and melancholy emotions, that combine simple, acoustic jazz elements with spacious, multi-dimensional, synthesized ambience and very mellow beats, there are few albums I could imagine recommending more than Alif Tree's French Cuisine. Truly a classic sound.

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