Since forming back in 1996, the much-admired quartet Partisans have been a force to reckon with. Setting a precedent for a mid-noughties new Brit jazz generation that brought some well-needed raw energy back to the scene, they're never better than in live performance. This album, their sixth to date, is surprisingly their first on the road, recorded last year at Dalston's Vortex. The personnel boast a fiery virtuosity with real substance, comparing favourably to a lot of contemporary power-jazz ensembles. It's turbo-charged, feral yet playful post-bop informed by funk-rock riffage from Hendrix, 1970s Miles through to The Clash. Nit de Nit contains pieces written by saxophonist Siegel and the now New York-based guitarist Robson, beside a rarely-covered David Bowie song, ‘John I'm Only Dancing’, artfully reimagined as a kind of Miles-ish Bitches Brew outtake with the song's hooky intro jumping out between Robson letting rip in superb dialogue with US-born drummer Calderazzo. ‘3:15 (on the dot)’ showcases a mellower, but no less stimulating side to the band, with a graceful bari-sax led theme setting up a collective ebb and flow, as does ‘Eg’, in tribute to Egberto Gismonti that also has faint echoes of the early Garbarek-Jarrett groups. Siegel is versatile, Shorter-ish at times, as on ‘That's Not His Bag’ while the title-track's dizzily Monk-ish theme goes into frenetic bebop overload, while the superbly tripped-out ‘Pork Scratching’ has Robson's Sco-funk riff matched against Calderazzo's swinging breakbeats. Nit De Nit documents Partisans' strong signature and versatile palette of undiluted jazz and rock sub-genre fascinations at its peak. Captured ‘live’, there's never a dull moment.