For the Record: An ECM Rarities Update

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…