RESEARCH/WRITING

Research

My current book project examines the relationship between improvisation in music and in everyday life through a series of nested comparisons, including case studies on the music of Eric Dolphy, Norwegian free improvisers, Mr. K, and the Kris Davis/Ingrid Laubrock duo. 

In addition to my work on improvisation, I also work in popular music studies, and among other projects, I am currently researching feminist affect in post-grunge American indie rock.

Writing

Monograph

Contingent Encounters: Improvisation in Music and Everyday Life (Forthcoming, University of Michigan Press).

Peer Reviewed Articles

“Improvisation as Contingent Encounter, Or: The Song of My Toothbrush”, Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation vol. 12, no. 2.

Book Chapters

“Rancière and Improvisation: Reading Contingency in Music and Politics”, in Rancière and Music, edited by João Pedro Cachopo, Patrick Nickleson, Chris Stover (Edinburgh University Press). 

Editor Reviewed/Public Scholarship

“Feeling Spaces and Spatial Feelings: On The Ophelias’ Crocus“, Blog/Los Angeles Review of Books (October 19, 2021)

“Climate Changing: Playlist for a changing planet”, Wexner Center for the Arts Blog, “Read, Watch, Listen” (February 1 2021).

“Bracing for Impact: Music, Millennials, and What Comes After COVID-19”, Blog/Los Angeles Review of Books (May 11, 2020). 

“This and The Coming Crisis: Reid Anderson, Dave King, and Craig Taborn’s Golden Valley Is Now”, Blog/Los Angeles Review of Books (February 3, 2020).

“Tik Tok: Post-Crash Party Pop, Compulsory Presentism, and the 2008 Financial Collapse”, Sounding Out! (October 21, 2019).

Book Reviews

“Review: Anthony Reed’s Soundworks: Race, Sound, and Poetry in Production (Duke University Press), Journal of Popular Music Studies vol. 33, no. 4 (December/forthcoming).

“Improvising What?”: A Review of Georgina Born, Eric Lewis, and Will Straw’s Improvisation and Social Aesthetics, boundary 2 online (October 11, 2017).