What is "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.