Silver received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters award in 1995, and in the following year was added to "Down Beat"s Jazz Hall of Fame and received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. He moved from Columbia to Impulse! Records, where he made the septet "The Hardbop Grandpop" (1996) and the quintet "A Prescription for the Blues" (1997). The former was nominated for two Grammy Awards: as an album for best instrumental performance, individual or group; and for Silver's solo on "Diggin' on Dexter". He was again unwell in 1997, so was unable to tour to promote his records. His final studio recording was made in the following year – "Jazz Has a Sense of Humor", for Verve Records. One continuation from his early career was that Silver recorded his own compositions for his later albums and they were typically new, rather than re-workings of previous releases.