Album Notes

Just pretending you don't see them, doesn't mean they're not actually there. Fresh on the heels of last year's successful release "As Julia...", Fred Redekop (mandolin) and Jay Taylor (basses), are at it again with 14 more tracks of their particular brand of quirky instrumentals designed specifically for the bass and mandolin.
The Winnipeg Free Press called the "positively piquant instrumentals" of their first C.D., a "delightful listening experience" by a couple of "pickin' powerhouses", while Uptown magazine referred to the tunes as "spry, lively,and always melodic".
"Just Pretend You Don't See Them" is all of that and a little more. Incorporating elements of world music, pop, bluegrass, jazz and fiddle tunes, this duo have found a groove in their writing that maintains the character of the bass and mandolin instrumental, while allowing for more sophisticated and fuller arrangements and interplay including additional percussion by Greg Gardner.
Whatever it is, people seem to be enjoying it. As CBC Radio 2's Jurgen Goth said, "we've played it before and we'll play it again... because we like it"

FRED REDEKOP AND JAY TAYLOR

Just Pretend You Don't See Them (Sonic Footsie)

Local musos Redekop and Taylor have been hard at it again in their mysterious Sonic Footsie Studios here in Winnipeg, blazing a trail for all those mandolin-and-bass-guitar duos that are no doubt coming down the pike in their estimable wake.

All kidding aside, the duo's second release doesn't stray from the intriguingly enjoyable template they built with 2007's As Julia.... The musical hybrid they have created is something akin to gypsy jazzgrass, a melding of stylistic poise and flat-out eccentric arrangements. Tracks like M'Lady With the Flaxen Beard, In a Detrimental Mood and The Last of the Cryin' Hawaiians are as complicated as they are jovial.

Fellow traveler Greg Gardner adds some pertinent percussion making listening to Just Pretend the next best thing to seeing them. 'Ö'Ö'Ö

-- Winnipeg Free Press

Jazzgrass? Bluejazz? There's really no name for Redekop and Taylor's style. Anchored by the latter's nimble basswork and topped with the former's precise mandolin plucking, the 14 instrumentals on their sophomore CD split the diff between downtown jazz and downhome roots -- and make it clear they'd be equally at home at the Jazz Fest and the Folk Fest.

Winnipeg Sun
Sun Rating: 3 out of 5

A bass-and-mandolin album isn't exactly the sexiest-sounding notion in the music world. But you've gotta think that if people are going to go to the trouble of making such a record, they're going to be pretty good. Which is precisely the case with Fred Redekop (the mandolinist) and Jay Taylor (who plays fretless, acoustic and six-string basses). With the help of percussionist Greg Gardner, Taylor and Redekop explore almost all the forms that mando and bass can take, with the exception of the traditional and mundane - there's no airy-fairy folkie strumming or rigid bluegrass picking here. This is a jaunty, esoteric spree of an album that will delight those who give it the time.
— John Kendle Uptown Magazine