Pianist Horace Silver creates some of the most infectious music in jazz. When his music is played, toes tap, fingers snap and heads move with the beat. Silver is a pioneer of the bluesy, earthy style known as Funky/Soul Jazz and is widely considered to be the most prolific composer of the jazz style called Hard Bop. In 1954, Silver and Art Blakey co-founded the Jazz Messengers, one of the most influential small groups of modern jazz. After Silver left the group, he formed his own ensemble and embarked on long series of albums for the Blue Note label. Each one of these featured Silver's compositions, and it is on these albums that much of his reputation is based. His most famous piece is "Song for my Father", from the album of the same name. In 1996, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Silver as an NEA Jazz Master, and in 2006, he published his autobiography, Let's Get to the Nitty Gritty.