Charlie Shavers was one of the greatest trumpeters of the Swing era, as well as a talented composer and arranger .In the mid-1930s, he performed with Tiny Bradshaw and Lucky Millinder. In 1935 he played in the trumpet section with Dizzy Gillespie and Carl "Bama" Warwick in Frankie Fairfax's orchestra.

In 1936 he joined the John Kirby Sextett as trumpet soloist and arranger. His arrangements and solos helped make the band one of the most commercially successful and imitated bands of its day. In 1945 he left Kirby's band to join Tommy Dorsey's Orchestra, with whom he toured and recorded, off and on, until 1953. During this time he continued to play sessions at CBS, played with the Metronome All-Stars, and made a number of recordings as trumpet soloist with Billie Holiday. From 1953 to 1954 he worked with Benny Goodman and toured Europe with Norman Granz's popular Jazz At The Philharmonic series, where he was always a crowd favorite.

Shavers died from throat cancer in New York in 1971 at the age of 50. His friend Louis Armstrong died while Shavers was on his deathbed, and his last request was that his trumpet mouthpiece be buried with Armstrong in his coffin.