NoJo Airlines - Vilnius Jazz Festival 2021

Dalius Naujokaitis-Naujo – conduction, dr
Giuseppe Zevola – voice 
Jonathon Haffner – sax, conduction 
Eugenijus Varkalis – ts, recorders 
Ava Mendoza – g 
Simon Jermyn – b
 Gintas Gascevičius – dr 
Mėta Gabrielė Pelegrimaitė – fl 
Gintė Preisaitė – p 
Aurelijus Užameckis – b
 Ignas Kasikauskas – dr 
Danielius Pancerovas – ts 
Kazimieras Jušinskas – as 
Paulius Vaškas – elg 
Arminas Bižys – as 
Mindaugas Vadoklis – tp 
Dovydas Stalmokas – bs
 Adas Gecevičius – perc 
Domantas Razmus – dr 
Lukas Pivoriūnas – sousaphone 
Simonas Kaupinis – tba 
Gediminas Stepanavičius – tp 
Juozas Milašius – elg 
Laima Griciūtė – voice, dr 
Kristupas Gikas – fl 
Denisas Kolomyckis – dance 
Rokas Pralgauskas – acc 
Kristupas Kmitas – dr 
Dominykas Norkūnas – elg
 Šarukas Joneikis – tp 
Mantas Joneikis – elg 
Mantas Augustaitis – dr 
Salomėja Kalvelytė – fl 
Haroldas Parulis – cl 
Rasa Vaštakaitė – dr 
Aurimas Keymono – tp 
Mikas Kurtinaitis – tba 
Mantvydas Pranulis – tp 
Dominykas Snarskis – perc 
Artiom Koselev – tp

Nojo Airlines Choir: Agota Ago, Migloko, Lina Saveikytė, Ugnė Matulevičiūtė - Ugnė Uma, Clotilde Solange Rigaud, Vaiva Aglinskas, Tina Kristina Lukšaitė, Agnė Kanapienytė, Julija Surovecaite, Paulina Jankauskaitė, Dovydas Stalmokas, Viltė Gustytė, Mindaugas Ancevičius, Darius Navickas, Domas Raibys, Vytautas Dūdėnas, Lukas Norkūnas, Kasparas Pocius, Vytenis Starkauskas, Aistė Jančiūtė, Milda Laužikaitė, Vidas Vokietaitis, Aistė Motiejūnaitė, Emilija Skarnulytė

Nojo Airlines, a team of more than half a hundred passengers and pilots from New York, Naples, Berlin and Lithuania, kicks off on the Vilnius Jazz stage! The goal of this journey is infinity and the unknown. Let’s take off with the best aircrew in the world!

The mastermind of the project D. Naujokaitis-Naujo has been playing in Butcho Morris’ Nublu Orchestra since 2006. Inspired by the late maestro’s unique method of conducting, Dalius became his follower, gathering the New York musicians into Dalius Naujo Orchestra, with which he often performed at Nublu, Zebulon and other live music venues in New York.

In the late 2020s, during the pandemic, he began recording his solo album. For one long (more than half an hour) composition he brought together for virtual collaboration over 40 of his friends – musicians and poets from Japan, the USA, France, Italy, Spain, England and Lithuania. He named the band and the album, which will be released next spring, Nojo Airlines.

“While I was talking to Giuseppe Zevola on the phone, the idea of an LP envelope came up spontaneously, which also prompted the name of the orchestra,” Dalius recalled.

This is how this mobile band emerged, which changes the lineup according to the situation. In Vilnius, Nojo Airlines will be joined by Jeffrey Perkins, the legendary New York personality, Fluxus artist and experimental filmmaker, author of a great film about Jurgis Mačiūnas, friend of J. Mačiūnas, Jonas Mekas, Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Sebastian Mekas and Dalius Naujokaitis-Naujo.

Nojo Airlines is probably an even more fun project than Naujo Orchestra. There is no hint of academism in it!