Released

There’s a fair amount of overlap between British keyboardist Greg Foat and Italian keyboardist Gigi Masin. Both favor space-via-electronics and sparse piano accompaniment where necessary, though Foat generally works in collaborative jazz settings, while Masin is known for his cherished ambient ’80s solo albums and one-off drifts like Gaussian Curve. On paper, a collaboration might not seem to make much sense beyond such mutual admiration, yet Dolphin finds both keyboardists floating amicably alongside one another in serene waters.

And such water metaphors are hard to avoid with an ambient album that favors ebbs and drifts. Little rivulets (like the brief interludes of “Dolphin” and “Leo Theo”) and more jazzy numbers (“Viento Calido”) widen into great ambient expanses (as on the exquisite “Sabena”). The glissades and rippling effects of both gentlemen and their melodic wanderings remain hypnotizing throughout, flowing over all.

Andy Beta

Suggestions
Parallel cover

Parallel

Four Tet
Funky Snakefoot cover

Funky Snakefoot

Alphonse Mouzon
Viento Sur cover

Viento Sur

Various Artists
Reflection cover

Reflection

Peter Chilvers, Brian Eno
Awareness cover

Awareness

Buddy Terry
Rain on the Road cover

Rain on the Road

Mary Lattimore, Walt McClements
Elaenia cover

Elaenia

Floating Points