As those of you subscribed to this humble blog have likely noticed, I’ve recently been working my way through a small mountain of ECM rarities: out-of-print anthologies, obscure compilations, promotional samplers, and other releases dwelling in the margins of the label’s already expansive catalogue. Some are deep cuts in the truest sense; others seem determined to remain off the record altogether.

I’ve wanted to tackle these elusive items for a long time. If Between Sound and Space is to come as close as possible to being the complete archive I intended for it to be from the start, then these odds and ends deserve their place in the mix. The familiar albums may carry the melody, but the rarities provide a vital counterpoint, filling in a few of the spaces between the sounds.

As far as I can tell, I have now documented every such release I know about (you can see the full list at the bottom of the “By Catalogue #” page). “Every,” of course, is a dangerous word in the world of collecting: just when you think you’ve reached the top of the ladder, another hidden rung reveals itself. It is therefore entirely possible that something has escaped my notice. If you know of a compilation, sampler, promotional release, or miscellaneous ECM curiosity (including anything produced by Manfred Eicher that wasn’t released on ECM) that I have inadvertently glossed over, please drop me a line. I’ll be delighted to add it to the list and, so to speak, set the record straight.

I must also give a special shout-out to Bernd Webler, whose ECM collection is the most comprehensive I have encountered and whose generosity was largely responsible for giving me access to so many of these hard-to-obtain gems. Without his help, a number of them might have remained silent entries in the catalogue. Bernd is also a wonderful visual artist in his own right, so please take a moment to explore his artwork here if you have the chance.

My heartfelt thanks to him for helping this archive sound a little fuller and for proving that, sometimes, the most beautiful sound next to silence is a collector saying, “Yes, I have that one.”