Maximalist !
Maximalist! was an ensemble formed to perform the compositions that Thierry De Mey and Peter Vermeersch wrote for the dance choreographies of Wim Vandekeybus. The music they performed mixed avant-garde jazz with minimal music; hence (by contrast) the name of the band.
De Mey and Vermeersch had met each other in their previous band Union, an avant-garde punk jazz/classical music ensemble. When the constraints of writing and playing from music scores became too much of a restraint for Peter Vermeersch, he and De Mey split ways in 1989. Maximalist! became a direct precursor to the later band X-Legged Sally, with three early members already present: Peter Vermeersch, Jean-Luc Plouvier and Eric Sleichim.
