Dan DiPiero is a musician, Lecturer of Comparative Studies at the Ohio State University, and host of the Public Cultural Studies podcast. His book, Contingent Encounters: Improvisation in Music and Everyday Life compares the music of Eric Dolphy, Mr. K, and the Ingrid Laubrock/Kris Davis duo with improvisations in everyday life in order to re-evaluate improvisation’s aesthetic and political implications. Contingent Encounters is forthcoming from the University of Michigan Press.