SticklerPhonics’ secret weapon isn’t the combination of instruments, but the imagination and wherewithal to make music that’s fresh and fun.

Here’s the official video of “Yo I Surrender,” a down-home ditty by Oliver Wood that manages to be uplifting without even trying too hard.

John Blum’s ‘Deep Space’ might have some Sun Ra flavor in it thanks to Marshall Allen, but the free jazz pianist follows his own muse and it’s a good one.

‘Vivid Tales of A Blurry Self-Portrait’ tells a story with not words but with feel, and you can’t help but notice the unpretentious emotional investment Nicola Caminiti put into his debut album.

Jeff Oster, Vin Downes and Tom Eaton prove with ‘Seven Conversations’ that ambient or New Age music doesn’t have to be planned to be good.

For ‘Adityahridayam 321,’ David Torn is leveraging technology and musicianship in the service of impulsive creativity like no one else can.

Like a fingerprint or snowflake, Ivo Perelman’s and Matthew Shipp’s ‘Magical Incantation’ is unique within a collection of other unique tie-ups even if the basic approaches are similar.

Emphasizing a loosely-structured, open approach, the Tomeka Reid Quartet builds on the success of the prior two outings with ‘3+3.’

The Claudio Scolari Project raises the stakes for ‘Opera 8,’ an especially adventurous effort from a band for which adventure is their calling card.

Everything on Nick Millevoi’s meditative ‘Moon Pulses’ points to conceiving a single idea and a single-minded determination to bring that idea to fruition.