"I was deeply touched by the description of your experience of our visit to Ramallah and the camps together. I would sincerely hope that your book will be read by more than the academics and intelligentsia, it’s very important."

- John McLaughlin,

"<i>Playing for Keeps</i> collects critical, thoughtfully selected on how musical improvisation can respond to and through trauma. . . . Case studies in this collection illustrate global improvisatory practices, framing them as solutions to encounters with difference that have failed in the past. These solutions seem especially timely for a world reckoning with dual crises: racism and disease. Each case study testifies to improvisation’s power to maintain and restore dignity through dialogic exchanges of creative response to horrific injustices, exchanges that facilitate co-creation of new community identities with an eye toward nurturing rather than perpetuating destruction. . . . Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals."

- S. Schmalenberger, Choice

“With beautifully written individual chapters on different musical events and communities, and each writer’s interpretation of improvisation in their research topic, [<i>Playing for Keeps</i>] is significant as a collection of essays, and builds upon the growing field of interdisciplinary critical research on improvisation.”

- Rebecca Zola, Jazz Perspectives

“[<i>Playing for a Keeps</i>] is a beacon of hope in times of crisis and will continue to be a reference point as the aftermaths of current crises persist in the years to come. The authors all outline ways in which improvisatory musics—and, more fundamentally, improvisation itself—can help those who suffer through and navigate crises and, afterward, salve the psychological wounds of the survivors.”

- Mike Ford, Current Musicology