The deep connection between the jets of radio galaxies beyond z-1 and their star-formation history has long been known, evidenced by the strong correlation of radio and restframe UV emission – particularly as seen by HST. A missing piece of puzzle has been optical/NIR line-diagnostics and kinematic information at sub-kpc scales, better probing the light of older stars.  These data can come from ground-based adaptive optics, if the point-spread function can be well controlled.  I discuss Gemini Altair laser-guidestar NIFS spectroscopy of 3C 230 (z=1.5) and 4C +41.17 (z=3.8), two extremely massive RGs that epitomize the star-formation “fireworks” along the radio jet.