Maximalist! (band)

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.

Members

• Thierry De Mey (percussions)
• Dirk Descheemaeker (bass clarinet)
• Jean-Paul Dessy (cello)
• Walter Hus (piano)
• Jean-Luc Plouvier (piano)
• Eric Sleichim (saxes)
• Peter Vermeersch (clarinet)

Discography

• Rosas danst Rosas (1983)
• Maximalist! (1984)
• What the body does not remember (1989)