Nutville is a Horace Silver composition first recorded by The Horace Silver Quintet plus J. J. Johnson in 1965 and released on the Blue Note album Cape Verdean Blues. The tune sits in the hard bop and jazz blues sphere, with a tight groove and standout horn lines featuring J. J. Johnson on trombone, Woody Shaw on trumpet, Joe Henderson on tenor, and Horace Silver on piano. The arrangement was produced for jazz ensembles by Alfred Lion and recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio. Bryan Kidd later adapted Nutville for jazz ensembles in the FJH Jazz Ensemble Music series as JE4115, graded at 3. The score includes written solos and chord changes for all players, explains the mambo feel in the rhythm section, and offers simpler alternatives to help beginners groove into the groove. Nutville has become a huge standard in the jazz repertoire and is widely used for both education and performance.
