Profile
Critically acclaimed drummer/composer/bandleader/educator/producer – Amir Ziv has helped shape the downtown NYC music scene for the past 20 years.
Amir holds the position of Principle Drum/Percussion Faculty Member and Head of Drum Core-Curriculum & Advising at the School of Jazz at The New School. Amir is the Director of The Live Electronica Orchestra (LEO) as well as the program’s Percussion Ensemble. He teaches Sight Reading for Drummers levels I & II, Theory & Performance Lab for Drummers, and both IN and OUT of Proficiency private lessons.
Amir has presented master classes around the world and spent 6 years in NYC public schools as a resident artist for the Dream Yard Project. His students have gone on to work with some of music’s most established luminaries, including Wynton Marsalis, Ravi Coltrane, Kenny Garrett, Roy Hargrove, Jojo Mayer, Vernon Reid, Roy Haynes, Bilal Oliver, Anthony Braxton, Greg Osby, The Mingus Orchestra, William Parker, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Cassandra Wilson, Christian McBride, and the critically acclaimed Broadway hit Hamilton (winning 11 Tony awards including Best Musical).
Founder & Executive Director of Living Arts Apprenticeship Program (LAAP) – Located in the Catskills, NY, LAAP integrates the study of drumming, Aikido, and music composition in week-long cross-disciplinary arts intensives, and customized one-on-one Apprenticeships geared towards enhanced performance techniques for any performing artist.
• Founder of the percussion group POP IT! – A direct offshoot and result of the percussion ensemble work LAAP does with its participants.
“This is the most imaginative and compelling percussion-based music I’ve heard in many years; innovative and adventurous.” – JOE CHAMBERS (Wayne Shorter, M’Boom, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis)
• Co-founder & co-producer of the collaborative group & album NEW VOCABULARY w/Ornette Coleman, Jordan McLean, Adam Holzman.
“Everyone should listen to this.” – BILL T. JONES (MacArthur winner)
• Co-founder of the band DROID w/Adam Holzman, Jordan McLean, Tim LeFebvre / Yossi Fine.
“The astounding drum work of Amir Ziv may convince even the most ruffneck kids that they’re in the hands of masters.”
URB – Chris Muniz
• Founder of the band KOTKOT w/Marc Ribot, Cyro Baptista, and Shahzad Ismaily.
TYMPANUM, released in 2013, marks Amir’s debut solo album comprised of through-composed “songs” for the drum set, honoring drum innovators Baby Dodds and Papa Jo Jones. Hailed by some of today’s most established and recognized authorities on the drums.
“The execution and time feel are of the highest level.” – JOE PORCARO
As a sideman, Ziv has performed and/or recorded with some of the worlds most noted musical artists some of which include John Zorn, Medeski Martin and Wood, Sean Lennon, David Broza, Lauryn Hill, Carl Craig, DJ Spooky, Wayne Krantz, Beat The Donkey, DJ Logic, Cibo Mato, Trey Anastasio, Pizzicato Five – at venues across the globe such as Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Carre Theater – Amsterdam, Festival d’Agadir – Morocco and the Bonnaroo Festival.
Co-founder of System Dialing Records (SDR) – An artist-run record label founded in 2013. Not married to any one genre, SDR brings you music as varied as New York, the city System Dialing Records calls home. SDR’s artists shift the experimental frontiers toward the center of mainstream discovery. System Dialing Records is distributed by The Orchard.
Amir endorses Remo drum heads, Vater drum sticks, and Paiste cymbals.
“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.” ¬– MODERN DRUMMER