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PARTISANS | By Proxy | Babel

'By Proxy' is Partisans’ fourth album and packs quite a punch. A great set of original tunes is caught live and at full throttle in the studio. Partisans are a real band, where the combination of each member’s influences feeds a genuine creative spark generating huge excitement and energy. Co-led by Phil Robson (guitar – best musician 2009 Parliamentary Jazz Awards) and Julian Siegel (reeds – best instrumentalist BBC Jazz Awards 2007) the quartet line-up is completed by Thaddeus Kelly (bass) and Gene Calderazzo (drums). Partisans cook up a trademark shot of gritty bebop and hard bop, early electric Miles, ballads with sustained delicacy, rock riffs mixed with P-Funk grooves and with fresh departures into electronica notably on Thad Kelly’s distinctive remix of Duke Ellington’s ‘Prelude to a Kiss’.

‘By Proxy bears out Partisans’ status as one of the UK’s finest bands. What was promised is now confirmed. This is totally a group sound and identity. The writing gels perfectly with the arrangements, the solos arise logically and precisely out of the ensembles and there are hints of where the group are heading in the future. Words and phrases such as “hard edged” and “high energy” are often bandied around but here they apply, and the sheer power and joyous swing that the rhythm section sustain throughout these nine tracks give the record much of its fire and edge’ – June 2009