Overwater studied at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague[2] under John Clayton and had lessons from Dave Holland, Charlie Haden and others.

The album Op (2001), which also featured Ack van Rooyen and Ernst Reijseger, was a tribute to bassist Oscar Pettiford and resulted in an Edison Award.

Overwater played with many Arab musicians such as the Moroccan oud player Said Chraibi, the Syrian clarinettist Kinan Azmeh and Algerian violinist Kheiredinne M’Kachiche.

In 1995 Overwater went on a tour with the Yuri Honing Trio through the Middle East (primarily Lebanon and Syria) where he became interested in Arab music.

In 2013 Overwater started Salon Joussour, a series of lectures, workshops and concerts in The Netherlands which aims to create a bridge between musicians from the Middle East and Europe.

A performance (in which he played live while Velthuijs read aloud and sketched) was broadcast on Dutch national television.

In the following years Overwater also got involved in music education for children with organisations such as Oorkaan and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra.