2009 was year full of new initiatives. in February Tony recorded with Swedish trombone player Karin Hammar for her new group the Karin Hammar Quartet. The CD ‘Everyday Magic was released in the fall.
in march the Far East revisited project, with the Tony Overwater Trio and the Calefax Reed quintet, did a beautiful tour to India following the footsteps of the Duke Ellington band in 1963.
Tony was invited to play at the Time in Jazz Festival in Sardinia to play in duo with Swedish bass player Lars Andersson. They performed all new music written for 2 basses.
Undoubtedly one of the biggest initiatives of 2009 was the the reinvention of the 20 year old Tony Overwater Trio. Now renamed as Jungle Boldie the trio, with reed player Maarten Ornstein and drummer Wim Kegel rehearsed for months at end and recorded their first real trio cd (this time without special guests). The cd will be released in March 2010.
in October Tony started a new initiative with his long time friend and colleague, percussion player Joshua Samson. The project called Sleutelbewaarders (Key keepers) invites 50 people (keepers of the 50 keys) each month to a suprise concert at an undisclosed location with a suprise special guest. meer…

this year started out with new recordings for the Rima Khcheich group. The new cd Falak was recorded in Wisseloord by Tijmen Zinkhaan. The new group with Yuri Honing, Joost Lijbaart and new addition Maarten Ornstein recorded all new arrangements and songs.
in March Tony played a duo concert with Rima Khcheich in the Bahrein. A landmark in his development in duo playing and Arab music.
In April the Yuri Honing Trio travelled to India to perform in Jaipur with traditional Rajasthan folk musicians.
The new CD Falak was presented in Lebanon in May with two sold out concerts.
In July Tony received a golden disc for the 10.000 sold cd’s of Kikker Swingt which was presented to him at the North Sea Jazz Festival.
In November the new project Far East Revisited started with a tour in China. In this project Calefax and the Tony Overwater trio step in the footsteps of the Duke Ellington Orchestra and tour with the Far East Suite and newly composed material throught the Middle and Far East.
Tony composed and recorded music for a documentary called Dierenleed.
The year 2008 was closed of with a concert of the Yuri Honing Trio at the Winterreise II festival.

Tony toured with the Yuri Honing Trio (YHT) to South America, (Mexico, bolivia, panama, Costa Rica), Middle East (Syria, Jordan), South Africa, Bonaire, Venezuela and China. By this point, the trio has played in almost 50 countries.
In April, Tony played two duo concerts with Rima Khcheich in the Monnot Theatre in Beirut, Lebanon. Both concerts were sold out and it was the start of their new duo project now becoming reknowned in Lebanon. The combination of classical Arab songs and arrangement for acoustic bass were a novelty and were received with astonishment in the Middle East. meer…

Tony was invited to play on Yalalalli , the new cd of Lebanese singer Rima Khcheich. The cd presentation in Lebanon was a great success with two sold out concerts in the concert hall of the American University. A live TV performance and interview with Rima and Tony completed the trip to Lebanon. The album included two duo tracks of bass and voice and was the start of his on-going collaboration with Rima.
The Yuri Honing Trio toured through India. The Trio was also invited to participate in a project in Morocco where they played with the famous Ud player Said Chraïbi. Later that year the same group with Chraïbi also performed at an Ud festival in Morocco and in Rotterdam. The YHT also performed in Hong Kong, China and Bosnia.
Pianist Marc van Roon invited Tony to play on his latest trio cd for the label Blanc et Noir. The result is a beautiful, melodic, original and contemporary album.

The Tony Overwater group was invited by the Calefax Reed Quintet to participate in a project playing 2 suites from Duke Ellington; The River and The Far east suite. The project resulted in concerts and a cd which was nominated for an Edison award.
Overwater was also nominated for the second time for a Bird Award at the North Sea Jazz festival.
For the new group, Yuri Honing Wired Paradise, Tony picked up his bass guitar - something he hadn’t done for 20 years. It resulted in a renewed love for the instrument and he started to develop his own unique way of playing using electronic effects and a wide variety of playing styles. While the three core members of Wired Paradise are the same line-up as the Yuri Honing Trio, Wired Paradise differs greatly. Firstly, the band also includes guitarist Frank Möbus and secondly, the group has a far more electric sound.
The Yuri Honing Trio continued to play in new countries including South Africa, Chili and Slovenia.

This year Tony Overwater started to play on the Ruby Gamba, a seven string electric instrument based on a viola da gamba. He used this instrument with two groups. One with singer Heleen van den Hombergh, with whom he recorded the successful cd Rush in the Woods, the other with the new group of pop singer Dez. Overwater has always been interested in singer/songwriters and pop music. This instrument formed the bridge to more electric music but also to a more chord like approach.
Tony also performed with Belgium piano player Nathalie Laurier playing a mixture of arab and western music.
It was at this point that Overwater started to become more involved in music for children. With his own group he’d already recorded with Max Velthuis, but he also played concerts and ran workshops for kids. In Autumn 2004 he developed a series of workshops and concerts for the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, called Stadsnootjes.
With the Yuri Honing trio he toured to South America playing in Bolivia, Brasil and Argentina. They also released their first live cd called Alive.

In 2003 Tony Overwater was awarded with the most prestigious Jazz Award in the Netherlands - the Boy Edgar Prize. The award concert highlighted the most important groups of his career, the Tony Overwater Group, The Yuri Honing Trio and the Orient Express. As a special guest, Dutch Pop diva Anouk performed with a special edition of the Tony Overwater group. In this year Tony received much pubic attention. At the North Sea Jazz Festival he was asked to perform with guitarist Pat metheny, who was featured in the Tony Overwater Group. Also another Dutch Pop diva, Ilse de Lange, performed with this group. The concert in the PWA zaal of the festival was one of the highlights of Overwater’s career.
Tony Overwater also wrote and performed new music for a new dance piece by Anouk van Dijk; Suna no Ona. This piece for 4 dancers and 4 musicians was performed in Holland and Budapest.
With the Yuri Honing Trio he performed in many different countries, including Russia, Egypt, Scotland, Greece, Morocco.

Early 2002 Tony Overwater toured with his quintet and Max Velthuijs, a writer of children’s books. They performed throughout Holland and the friendship between the 79 year old Max Velthuis and the group grew. One of the performances was recorded and released on CD combined with a book of Max’s stories. The friendship also resulted in a concert at the North Sea Jazz Festival where Max Velthuijs was asked to join the group. Joshua invited Max Velthuis to announce the group and make a large drawing while they played. The concert also included 10 percussion players, 2 dancers and a rapper and was released on the ‘Apple on the Moon’ label.
In same year, the Tony Overwater Group toured through Switzerland with Ack van Rooyen. Later that year, Tony was asked to play in a new group in Switzerland with Dutch saxophone player Jasper Blom and two Swiss musicians- Samuel Rohrer and Patrick Muller.
In October the Italian based group Dufay released its first cd and played several concerts in Venice, Ancona and Padova.
Orient Express toured twice through Holland and released their first cd Orient Express for Jazz in Motion Records.

In January 2001 horn player Maarten Ornstein and Tony Overwater went to Las Vegas to promote the cd’s ‘Up Close’ and ‘OP’ at the CES (Consumer Electronics Show). In March Tony went on tour in Italy with a new group called Dufay. The group consisted of 2 Italian musicians, drummer Enzo Carpentieri and pianist Paulo Birro, as well as Belgium saxophone player Erwin Vann. They recorded at the festival of Cremona.
In the same period the Tony Overwater trio played a week in Pompoen, a new jazz club in Amsterdam and performed with Ack van Rooyen and Ernst Reyseger at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Their CD OP received an Edison for ‘best Jazz cd of the year’ and Tony was nominated for a Bird award. meer…

The year 2000 started with a tour to Australia with the Yuri Honing Trio. In April The Tony Overwater Trio recorded a new CD called OP for Turtle Records. The cd honoured the music of Oscar Pettiford, an important bass player from the 40’s and 50’s who was a great inspiration to many bass players including Tony. The CD featured reed player Maarten Ornstein and drummer Wim Kegel and special guests, Ack van Rooyen (flugel) and Ernst Reyseger (cello).
In July Tony went on tour with the group Vandoorn to Canada. In the Autumn of the same year, he was part of the theatre production ‘Entertainment’ by the Barre Land. The music was composed by Maarten Ornstein and performed live. The musicians were an active part of the play. In October the Yuri Honing Trio did another tour in Georgia. Near the end of the year, Tony was asked to compose music for a children’s production in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. It was a co-production with a well-known writer of childrens books, Max Velthuis. The music was played live by a quintet while the author read and drew his stories. The performance was recorded for National TV (VPRO).