Nadav Snir-Zelniker is an Israeli-born jazz drummer and percussionist who has spent more than two decades as a working sideman and occasional bandleader on the New York area's straight-ahead jazz scene. Born in Israel in 1974, he took up the drums at sixteen and worked through the local rock and jazz circuit before a series of scholarships brought him to the United States in 1999. He earned his BFA in music performance from the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase College, graduating with the class of 2002, where he studied under drummers Adam Nussbaum and John Riley, alongside trumpeter Jon Faddis, bassist Todd Coolman, pianist Hal Galper, and drummer Richie Morales.

Since settling in the New York metropolitan area, Snir-Zelniker has built a career defined by versatility across genres while keeping a steady foothold in straight-ahead jazz. Per his own artist biography, distributed by OA2 Records and All About Jazz, he has performed and recorded with trumpeter Jon Faddis, singer Stella Mars, vibraphonist Arthur Lipner, guitarist Adam Rogers, bassist Gene Perla, pianist Ted Rosenthal, bassist James Camack, bassist Francois Moutin, and bassist Cameron Brown, and has collaborated with modern dance companies including David Parsons Dance and Nelly van Bommel's NoaDance. He also spent four and a half years as the house drummer at Turnmill Bar in New York.

His most enduring working relationship of the New York years was the trio led by Israeli guitarist Dekel Bor, formed with French bassist Francois Moutin and holding a twice-weekly slot at Cafe Creole. The Dekel Bor Trio recorded three albums together: Stories & Tales, Emuna [Leaps of Faith] (2005, cut at Systems Two Studios with singer Odeya Nini added to the group), and (The Long Way) Home (2007, produced by Robert Sadin). In 2009 Snir-Zelniker co-founded Trio Shalva with pianist Assaf Gleizner and bassist/oudist Koby Hayon, a collective of Israeli-born, New York-based musicians built around original compositions and arrangements of Israeli, Bedouin, and Jewish folk material set alongside jazz standards and reharmonized pop songs. The trio released Riding Alone (2010) and Breeza (2013), the latter launched at Birdland in New York on March 6, 2014; reviewing it for All About Jazz, Dan Bilawsky wrote that Snir-Zelniker "balances the fluid and firm in all of his work."

As a leader, Snir-Zelniker released his debut album, Thinking Out Loud, on OA2 Records in 2010, a trio session with pianist Ted Rosenthal and bassist Todd Coolman built around jazz standards and his own compositions. Reviewing the record for All About Jazz, John Barron wrote that a "burning rendition of 'Secret Love'... leaves no doubt about the drummer's technical command of the drum kit." All About Jazz returned to his work eleven years later in a 2021 feature by David A. Orthmann, "The Sound of Surprise," covering his ongoing sideman appearances at The Turning Point Cafe in Piermont, New York, alongside tenor saxophonist John Richmond and pianist Allen Farnham.

Snir-Zelniker remains an active sideman today. He is the drummer and percussionist in keyboardist Neil Alexander's long-running jazz-funk and world-fusion trio, Neil Alexander & NAIL, alongside bassist Brian Mooney, and has recent studio credits on bassist Rob Duguay's Songevity trio album Safe In Sound (2016, GSI Records, with pianist Justin Kauflin), vocalist Doug Ferony's big-band standards album Alright Okay You Win (2024), and saxophonist Peter Furlan's nonet album Live At Maureen's Jazz Cellar (2026).

Snir-Zelniker's playing sits squarely in the modern straight-ahead tradition he absorbed from his teachers Adam Nussbaum and John Riley at SUNY Purchase: a deep ride-cymbal groove, articulate stick technique, and closely curated cymbal choices rather than extended solo statements. All About Jazz's David A. Orthmann described him as "a restless musical spirit who thrives in a largely supportive role," adding that "the sheer breadth of [his] playing makes his drumming intriguing and tricky to pin down" across the genres he moves through. On his own leader date, Thinking Out Loud, that translates into a trio sound built on interplay rather than display; reviewer John Barron praised the "comfortable, warm vibe" of his playing on Bill Evans' "Interplay" and his own original "The Hard Way." With Trio Shalva, the same instincts serve a different repertoire, one blending "Middle Eastern tones and Jewish ideals with jazz language," in Dan Bilawsky's words, a fusion Snir-Zelniker helped originate as a founding member of the group in 2009.