Charlie Shavers
Trumpet
About
Charlie Shavers was a virtuosic swing-era trumpeter, arranger, and composer whose career spanned from the late 1930s through the 1960s. As the featured soloist and chief arranger of the John Kirby Sextet from 1937 to 1944, he helped create an elegant chamber-jazz sound that prefigured cool jazz. He composed the enduring standard "Undecided," first recorded with Kirby in 1938. From 1945 to 1956 he served as Tommy Dorsey's first African American featured soloist, and during breaks from the Dorsey orchestra he became a star of Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tours, where his legendary trumpet battles with Roy Eldridge became some of JATP's most celebrated recordings. He also recorded with Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Goodman, and Flip Phillips. Shavers died of throat cancer at age fifty, just two days after his friend Louis Armstrong.
Trivia
Shavers's composition "Undecided" got its title by accident — when asked via telegram what to name the untitled piece, he responded "Undecided," and the name stuck. He falsified his birth year as 1917 instead of 1920 to circumvent child labor laws and get hired as a teenager. He was a distant relative of trumpeter Fats Navarro and a cousin of heavyweight boxer Earnie Shavers. His death on July 8, 1971, was completely overshadowed by Armstrong's passing two days earlier; Shavers's final request was that his trumpet mouthpiece be buried with Armstrong.
Early Life
Born Charles James Shavers on August 3, 1920, in New York City, he grew up in a musical household where his father and older brother were both trumpet players. He began on piano and banjo before being assigned alto horn at military school, switching to trumpet only because players kept leaving the school band. He entered the professional world at fifteen with Frankie Fairfax's band in Philadelphia, initially hired as part of a package deal with his older brother. After stints with Tiny Bradshaw and Lucky Millinder, he made his recording debut in 1937 at sixteen. That same year, encouraged by drummer Sid Catlett at jam sessions, he joined the John Kirby Sextet as its trumpet soloist and arranger, a position that transformed his relationship with the instrument. As he later recalled, "It wasn't until I joined John Kirby that I finally became interested in really playing something on it."
Charlie Shavers Solos
1952
Trumpet solo - East Of The Sun - 1952
4/4 swing in C major at 123 BPM
Trumpet solo - Blue Moon - 1952
4/4 swing in A♭ major at 126 BPM
Trumpet solo - Easy to Love - 1952
4/4 swing in E♭ major at 134 BPM
Trumpet solo - I Only Have Eyes for You - 1952
4/4 swing in G major at 152 BPM
Trumpet solo - Moonglow - 1952
4/4 swing in G major at 117 BPM