English saxophonist Evan Parker embarked on a “green tour” across Europe on February, which will continue in the month of April. The tour is part of the “Take the Green Train” project. This is a three-year-project funded by the Creative Europe Program of the European Union managed by Jazz Network in tandem with leading environmental charity Julie’s Bicycle. Its aim is to address environmental sustainability in the jazz community from the perspective of event organizers and artists.
Evan Parker’s tour, which will resume this coming April, is being organized with train transportation between venues and with a special work carried out in each venue for testing more sustainable ways of organizing concerts. Evan Parker will be playing in mainly acoustic venues and a special attention will be dedicated to carbon consumption at each one of them, as well as waste production and recycling, “green” means of transportation to the venue and sustainable food and water provisions for the artist and the public.
The lessons learned from this tour will be documented and shared with the wider music community and the members of the Europe Jazz Network, which includes some of the main jazz festivals and clubs in Europe, with the view of inducing these behaviors on a larger scale.
The first leg of the tour concerts took place this February in Italy. It started in Rome on February 17 and ended in Pisa on February 20. The April part of the tour will focus on the north of Europe including UK, Germany and neighboring countries.