Get the inside stories on the Water Babies right here — who we are, where we come from, and why we like to play in The Name of the Duck...

But to learn what "living the dream" means for Jason, why Max works the keyboards with rolled-up pants and without shoes, why Aaron has this funny white sock stuck on his upright bass, and why Dave can't drum without a Real Change newspaper, you will have to come to our shows and see for yourself.
Jason grew up always wanting to be a musician. At age three, he was singing songs by The Kingston Trio and Simon & Garfunkel, using a hair brush as a mic, and strutting in front of the mirror. By eight Jason was playing piano and longing to be a classical cellist. That all changed one day early into his 2nd grade year when, like aliens from the furthest reaches of the galaxy, Dizzy Gillespie and his band descended upon the Multi-Purpose Room at Garland Elementary School in Palo Alto, California, and upon li'l old, unsuspecting Jason. He sat there literally at the feet of this giant, puffy-cheeked, goateed, dashiki-wearing man who was grinning-from-ear-to-ear and worshipped for about 30 minutes.

That day, Jason talked his parents into buying him his first trumpet. Almost 30 years later (and almost as many horns!), Jason can say without a doubt that his life was changed forever that day. The trumpet (and flugelhorn) has been his constant companion ever since.

In college, Jason started working at the school's radio station, and after graduating, he pursued a very successful career in radio, working as a DJ, Program Director and Consultant to many of the top stations in the Country. After becoming disillusioned with the state of radio, Jason turned back to his horns, and in February 2000 set out to make a living as a working musician. Since then, he has become one of the first-call trumpet players in Seattle, playing and recording with such notables as Carrie Akre (Hammerbox, Goodness), Sarah Shannon (Velocity Girl), Crooked Fingers, Sean Bates, and opening for the likes of Elvis Costello, Little River Band, Maktub and more.
After having been tortured for several years by a dead-strict classical piano teacher who had harshly banned any non-classical notes and signs of foot stompin', Max finally broke loose in his mid-teens to greet the world of jazz and blues improvisation.

He embarked on various musical adventures with his highschool big band and a range of rock and blues bands spanning two continents, three countries, and four cities. He then lapsed into musical solipsism, receiving much inspiration from Keith Jarrett's wonderful, grunting solo piano work.

He finally found his musical destiny in form of the "all-improv funk-jazz" genre that he has vehemently defended against the common "jam band" image ever since. (But of course he knows all too well that he's just jamming too, even if he coins some artsy-fartsy term for it.) In the process, he has replaced the good ol' piano sounds by the funky bark of the Fender Rhodes and the screaming swirl of the Hammond organ.

Having been freed from the requirement to rehearse and memorize songs, Max can now drink as much beer as he wants before and during a gig and then euphemistically hail the musical results as "purely fueled by spontaneous artistic inspiration."
Fresh off of turning down offers first to replace The Rolling Stones' Bill Wyman and then Metallica's Jason Newsted on the basis of lack of creative control, bassist Aaron Kassover sought a group of musicians who not only wouldn't make him play someone else's songs, but wouldn't make him play songs at all.

This led him to the other members of Water Babies, whose all improv style perfectly matched his artistic vision. While the pay isn't quite as high as his other offers, Aaron happily provides the lower half the rhythm section with the pride of not having sold out.
Dave’s been playing drums since he was a wee lad. OK, that’s not entirely true: at that age it was ice cream tubs and chopsticks, but it made the grade for a 6-year-old. At 17 he was trying to play as many notes as humanly possible per measure. At 30 somebody slapped him and he found that there was actually merit in something called a "groove." It opened up a whole new world for him and he’s been trying to find it ever since. You decide.

Dave can also be found doing voice-overs for a variety of clients including First Mutual Bank, Seattle Cancer Care Alliance, and those companies that call you during dinner to tell you that you need to pay your energy bill. He also produces "Fusion" and "Planet Beat," two Modern Global Music shows heard locally on KMTT/The Mountain and KUOW, respectively. So there.