His credits as a producer include work with Nina Simone, Phil Woods, and Michel Legrand.
With Nat Hentoff, Shapiro co-edited two books on jazz, Hear Me talkin' to Ya (1955) and The Jazz Makers (1957), now recognized as classic historical efforts.
He also compiled and edited Encyclopedia of Quotations about Music for Doubleday in 1978.
A collection of cynical quotations, Whatever It Is, I'm Against It (1984), was published shortly after his death.
Shapiro introduced Galt MacDermot to Gerome Ragni and Jim Rado, the writers of the musical Hair, and MacDermot composed the score.