Tony Overwater

Tony Overwater is one of those remarkable European bass players — a musician whose combination of profound musicianship, cultural curiosity, sense of tradition and artistic vision has formed him as versatile bass player, composer and organizer. He is a compelling solo performer, an imaginative composer, and an engaged sideman. Among his many accolades, he has received the prestigious Boy Edgar Prize and the Edison Award for Best Dutch Recording.

Overwater’s foundation is firmly in jazz, and his work has consistently expanded its boundaries. After his studies at the Royal conservatoire of the Hague with John Clayton, he was touring for several years with David and Sunny Murray. With his own band Scapes and later on Jungle Boldie he became a solid band leader as well.

A significant thread within this jazz work is his duo partnership with Japanese pianist Atzko Kohashi — an intimate, unhurried collaboration full of invention that has produced four albums: Virgo (2019), Crescent (2021), A Drum Thing (2023), and Porgy (2025).

He was part the Rembrandt Trio with pianist Rembrandt Frerichs and drummer Vinsent Planjer. The group weaves together jazz, Western classical music, and influences from the Middle East.

His long-running association with saxophonist Yuri Honing – one of the Netherlands’ most celebrated jazz voices – spans decades, and he is a central member of Honing’s Peace Orchestra, which draws on jazz, electronic music, pop, rock, and Sufi traditions. The ensemble released its debut album in September 2025.

In 2001, while touring Lebanon and Syria with the Yuri Honing Trio, Overwater fell deeply in love with Arab music culture. It was the beginning of a lifelong commitment. He started to study maqams, rhythms, and songs of classical Arab music, and developed a unique new playing style on the acoustic bass that allows him to navigate the microtonality of Arabic and Persian scales — something virtually unheard of on the instrument.

One of the most significant collaboration in this world is with Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich, whose ensemble he eventually became musical director of. Their duo concerts — in which Overwater’s acoustic bass replaces the oud in classical Arab muwashah repertoire — have captivated audiences at festivals worldwide and broken entirely new ground.

The collaboration of the Rembrandt Trio with the legendary Persian kamancheh master Kayhan Kalhor is another deep connection, in this case with the Persian music culture.

He has performed and recorded with an extraordinary range of artists from the region, including Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, Moroccan oud player Said Chraibi, Algerian violinist Kheiredinne M’Kachiche, and the Persian master musician Hossein Alizadeh.

His ongoing partnership with Palestinian oud player Nizar Rohana and reed player Maarten Ornstein gave rise to the Madar Ensemble, whose album Acamar was released in 2019. He is part now of the new Nizar Rohana Trio alongside German percussionist Ruven Ruppik, which released the live EP The MCO Session in 2025, with a full album planned for 2026. Another project exploring this terrain is Tony Overwater’s Spirits — featuring Turkish kemençe player Emine Bostanci, Iranian oud player Yasamin Shahhosseini, and percussionist Ruven Ruppik.

Overwater is the founder of Salon Joussour, a concert and lecture series founded in the Netherlands that creates a living dialogue between musicians from the Middle East and Europe. Part performance, part conversation, the series reflects his belief that music can be a genuine meeting place for cultures — and has introduced Dutch audiences to some of the Arab and Persian world’s most important artists.

A truly distinctive dimension of Overwater’s artistry is his pioneering use of the violone — a six-string instrument from the early Renaissance and the historical predecessor of the double bass. With its lighter timbre and broader range, the violone can fulfill melodic, harmonic, and bass functions simultaneously. Overwater is one of a tiny handful of jazz musicians worldwide to play the instrument in improvised and cross-cultural contexts, and regularly performs on it alongside the modern double bass. His ensemble Spirits is among the projects in which the violone plays a central role.

As a composer, Overwater has written extended works for his Wereldzee Ensemble in collaboration with the New European Ensemble, exploring the intersection of jazz, Arab music, and contemporary classical composition. He has scored music for numerous documentaries, including the Berlin Award-winning Justice For Sergei and Om de Oude Wereldzee, about Dutch statesman Abraham Kuyper.

Overwater is a professor of double bass at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, one of Europe’s leading music academies. Beyond his teaching there, he gives workshops and masterclasses around the world, sharing his expertise in jazz bass, maqam music, and the cross-cultural approaches that define his own practice. He is a generous and sought-after educator whose influence extends well beyond the concert stage.

Tony Overwater is the founder of Jazz in Motion Records and Kepera Records — two independent labels dedicated to jazz and music that crosses cultural boundaries, bringing together artists from Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. The label reflects the same values that run through all of his work: a commitment to artistic independence, cultural exchange, and music made with depth and intention.

Awards

Golden record for 'Kikker swingt' Nomination Bird award in 2002 and 2005 Boy Edgar prize 2002 Edison award 2001 Most promising young Dutch jazz musician of the year "Podium Prize 1989", awards with Scapes; Leverkusen '89, Meervaart '89 and Middelsee '89.