Amir Ziv is a drummer, composer, producer, and educator whose work has helped shape New York City's creative music scene for over three decades.
As a bandleader and composer, Ziv founded and led KOTKOT, DROID, RHYTHMOS, POP IT!, and his solo work, Tympanum.
He has worked alongside artists including Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Lauryn Hill, Marc Ribot, Grace Jones, Trey Anastasio, Cyro Baptista, Sean Lennon, and Medeski Martin & Wood, and has performed at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, and the Kennedy Center, and major venues worldwide.
A longtime faculty member at the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music at The New School and founder of Living Arts Apprenticeship Program (LAAP), Ziv has mentored generations of musicians who have gone on to work with artists including Herbie Hancock, Wynton Marsalis, Kendrick Lamar, and the cast of Hamilton on Broadway.
“Combining jazz, electronic, free, and Brazilian styles, the intriguing New York avant-everything drummer proves there are always new worlds to conquer—in his playing, and in his clinics, classes, and drum-centric getaways. Only the fearless need apply.”
— Ken Micallef, Modern Drummer Magazine
New DROID Album: CHARGE
Coming August 7, 2026
For nearly three decades, DROID has forged an uncompromising musical language at the intersection of jazz improvisation and electronic music.
Its lineage passes through Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, and David Bowie, arriving somewhere unmistakably its own.
CHARGE is DROID's first fully composed studio album, featuring Amir Ziv, Tim LeFebvre, Adam Holzman, and Jordan McLean. Produced by Amir Ziv.