For over three decades, Amir Ziv has helped shape New York City’s creative music scene as a drummer, composer, producer, and educator.
Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, Amir pursued advanced musical training in Los Angeles under studio greats Joe Porcaro and Ralph Humphrey as well as master percussionist Efraín Toro before moving to New York City at the age of 20. There he studied closely with jazz legends Kenwood Dennard, Reggie Workman, Joe Chambers, and Cecil McBee—a lineage extending from first-call studio musicianship through hard bop to the frontiers of free improvisation that continues to inform his work today.
He founded and led Kotkot (Marc Ribot, Cyro Baptista, and Shahzad Ismaily), Droid (Tim LeFebvre, Yossi Fine, Jordan McLean, and Adam Holzman), Rhythmos (Billy Martin and Cyro Baptista), and Pop It! (Living Arts Apprenticeship Program faculty, students, and guests). Amir co-founded the collaborative group New Vocabulary with Ornette Coleman and Jordan McLean. The group’s self-titled album was described by The Wall Street Journal as “a valuable addition to Ornette Coleman’s extraordinary discography.” He also created Tympanum, a through-composed work for solo drum set honoring drum-set pioneers Baby Dodds and Papa Jo Jones.
His film and television credits include the score for 24 Hours, a film about ultramarathon running directed by Peter Sarsgaard, and licensed music placements in HBO’s High Maintenance and the Amazon Prime Video series The Accidental Wolf.
Beyond his own projects, Ziv has worked alongside Lauryn Hill, Trey Anastasio, Grace Jones, John Zorn, Pizzicato Five, Erik Friedlander, Medeski Martin & Wood, Sean Lennon, Wayne Krantz, Carl Craig, DJ Spooky, David Broza, and many others.
He has performed at renowned venues and festivals worldwide, including Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Kennedy Center, Royal Theatre Carré, the Blue Note, the Modern Drummer Festival, the Guggenheim Museum, Bonnaroo, and the Woodstock reunion.
Teaching has always been inseparable from Ziv’s artistic life. A faculty member at The New School’s Jazz and Contemporary Music program since 1998, he served as Head of the Drum Department and developed much of its core curriculum and several elective ensembles, many of which remain part of the program today.
Amir founded the Living Arts Apprenticeship Program (LAAP), an immersive, cross-disciplinary arts program in New York’s Catskill Mountains built on the tradition of live-in apprenticeship.
His students have gone on to work with artists including Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Kendrick Lamar, and Robert Glasper, as well as on the Broadway production of Hamilton.
Ziv co-founded the artist-run label System Dialing Records (SDR) with longtime collaborator Jordan McLean under the mentorship of Jac Holzman, founder of Elektra Records. The label has become the home for much of Ziv’s recorded work while also providing a platform for independent New York artists working across experimental, electronic, jazz, Afrobeat, and contemporary composition.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Rhythm is my compass. I perceive music’s elements—harmony, melody, phrasing, dynamics, texture—in the world around me. Nowhere is this more vivid than in nature. I’m fascinated by frequency, waveform, and the forces that shape the physical world—what I call Harmonic Rhythm: the natural interplay of patterns found at every scale, from heartbeats to tides.
Guided by a lifelong study of rhythm in all its forms, my work blends composition and improvisation, weaving the threads of lived experience—its beauty, turbulence, and impermanence—through a human loom, into sound. I draw from the textures of indigenous traditions, the raw resonance of industrial soundscapes, and the pattern logic embedded in nature’s design. I use acoustic percussion, analog synthesizers, digital sampling, and voice—often building my own instruments to explore new sonic territory.
Collaborating with artisans and engineers, I design one-of-a-kind musical devices, incorporate global instruments, and repurpose found objects. Sometimes the instrument itself becomes the message—like turning artillery shells into artifacts that carry a more constructive impact. My art is an invitation to listen more deeply, without preconceptions.