Dr. Zlabinger holds a B.A. in music from Grinnell College and an M.A. in jazz performance from Queens College. He completed his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the CUNY Graduate Center and his dissertation was entitled FREE FROM JAZZ: The Jazz and Improvised Music Scene in Vienna after Ossiach (1971-2011). Dr. Zlabinger has primarily written about music and the depiction of musicians in and around various media franchises, such as The Big Lebowki, Neil Gaiman’s Sandman, The Simpsons, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Wars. Recently, he has also written about the process of decolonization in jazz and The Who’s performance at The Concert for New York City, in honor of the heroes and victims of 9/11. Additional scholarly interests include the pedagogy of improvisation and the music industry.