Claude Eugene Gordon (April 5, 1916 - May 16, 1996), nicknamed the "King of Brass", was an American
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
player, band director, educator, lecturer and writer.
Life
Claude Gordon was born on April 5, 1916 in Helena, Montana. His father, James Austin Gordon, was a clarinet player and orchestra director, and his mother, Nellie "Elge", was a pianist. His siblings formed a family orchestra, led by their father, that performed as the staff orchestra for a local radio station. Gordon was given his first
cornet
The cornet (, ) is a brass instrument similar to the trumpet but distinguished from it by its conical bore, more compact shape, and mellower tone quality. The most common cornet is a transposing instrument in B, though there is also a sopr ...
at the age of five, and three years later, in fifth grade, was featured as a soloist with the Helena High School Band. In his early teens, he began playing professionally and taught cornet and
accordion
Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...
.
In 1936, Gordon married Genevieve "Jenny" Pentecost. He raised two sons with her, Gary and Steven. Misfortune befell the family in 1988 when Jenny and Gary both died and Steven was diagnosed with cancer which led to his death in 1990. In September 1990, Gordon married Patricia "Patty" Jean Swanson, his longtime caretaker.
Gordon died from cancer on May 16, 1996. He is interred at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068, in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Histor ...
.
Career
Claude Gordon studied with
Herbert L. Clarke
Herbert Lincoln Clarke (September 12, 1867 – January 30, 1945) was an American cornetist, feature soloist, bandmaster, and composer. He is considered the most prominent cornetist of his time.
Clarke's legacy includes composing a portion of th ...
from 1936 until Clarke died in 1945. During the era of live radio and television, Gordon worked as a studio trumpet player. In 1939, he was cast as the Roma accordion player in the
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
musical film ''An Old Spanish Custom'', later renamed ''In Rhumba Land''. He formed his own big band in 1959. Their albums include ''Jazz For Jean-Agers'' and ''Sounds Of The Big Band Era''.
Gordon performed with studio orchestras on shows including ''
Amos and Andy
''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...
'' and ''
I Love Lucy
''I Love Lucy'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from October 15, 1951, to May 6, 1957, with a total of 180 half-hour episodes, spanning six seasons. The show starred Lucille Ball, her husband, Desi Arnaz, along with ...
''.
The Claude Gordon Orchestra was awarded Best Big Band of 1959.
Influence
Musical Instruments
Gordon worked with the
Benge
Benge is the 'Poison Oracle' used by the Azande of Central Africa, mainly in Southern Sudan, in which a decision is determined by whether or not a fowl
Fowl are birds belonging to one of two biological orders, namely the gamefowl or landfow ...
and
Selmer companies designing trumpets; both companies produced a Claude Gordon model. He also designed trumpet and cornet
mouthpieces originally made by Benge.
Teaching and Methods
As a teacher, Gordon considered his students
athletes
An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance.
Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...
who needed physical exercise to stay in shape, and prescribed daily breathing exercises to develop their wind power. He was widely respected by his many students for his knowledge and friendliness.
Claude Gordon published six major books through
Carl Fischer Music
Carl Fischer Music (founded in 1872) is a sheet music publisher based in New York City's East Village. The company has since moved to the Wall Street area in 2013. After 140 years, the company remains a family-owned business, publishing both perf ...
on
brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips. Brass instruments are also called labrosones or labrophones, from Latin a ...
playing. His most comprehensive
method
Method ( grc, μέθοδος, methodos) literally means a pursuit of knowledge, investigation, mode of prosecuting such inquiry, or system. In recent centuries it more often means a prescribed process for completing a task. It may refer to:
*Scien ...
book is ''Systematic Approach To Daily Practice'', published in 1965.
The book is formatted as a 52-week course with step-by-step instructions on how to practice Gordon's original routines alongside parts of
''Clarke's'' ''Technical Studies'' and ''Characteristic Studies'', ''Lip Flexibility on the Trumpet'' by Walter M. Smith, ''Saint-Jacome's Grand Method for Trumpet or Cornet'', ''Advanced Lip Flexibilities'' by Charles Colin, and the
Arban method
The Arban Method, titled with some variation over the years as Arban's World Renowned Method for the Cornet and Arban's Complete Celebrated Method for the Cornet (french: La grande méthode complète de cornet à piston et de saxhorn par Arban), ...
.
Gordon also published ''Daily Trumpet Routines'' in 1971, ''Physical Approach to Elementary Brass Playing'' in 1977, ''Tongue Level Exercises'' in 1981, ''Thirty Velocity Studies'' also in 1981. All of the previously mentioned books with the exception of ''Daily Trumpet Routines'' have editions for bass-clef brass instruments.
Gordon wrote his final book, ''Brass Playing is No Harder than Deep Breathing'', for publication in 1987. It consolidates much of his teaching regarding tone generation in brass instruments as
prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
with minimal use of
musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...
. Gordon also worked with Carl Fischer as an
annotator for multiple editions of the Arban method,
editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...
for ''Clarke's Technical Studies for Bass Clef Instruments'', and
revising editor for ''Saint-Jacome's Grand Method for Trumpet or Cornet''.
Personal Papers
The Claude Gordon Personal Papers and Music Instrument Collection—including music, correspondence with Herbert L. Clarke and other notable trumpeters, educational materials, performance contracts, publicity materials and memorabilia—is housed at the
Sousa Archives and Center for American Music
The Sousa Archives and Center for American Music (SACAM) documents American music through historical artifacts and archival records in multiple formats. The center is part of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign's library system an ...
at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univ ...
.
References
External links
Hit it Hard & Wish it Well ebookby Jeff Purtle, published 2016 in the iBooks Store
Claude Gordon: Master Teacherby Jeff Purtle, published October 2008 in The Brass Herald
Claude Gordon Practice Routinesby Jeff Purtle, published December 2008 in The Brass Herald
Claude Gordon and Herbert L. Clarke and Their Teachingby Jeff Purtle, published February 2009 in The Brass Herald
Trumpet Playing and Brass Playing Articlesby Claude Gordon student Jeff Purtle
Claude Gordon Memorial Brass Conference and Trumpet Symposiumby Jeff Purtle
O.J.'s Trumpet Page*
ttps://www.purtle.com/jeff-audio-video Claude Gordon Lecture and Brass Camp RecordingsChurch Brass websiteCheck out "John's Blog" to read on the travails of a trumpeters studying Gordon's "Systematic Approach"
Finding Aid for Claude Gordon Personal Papers and Music Instrument Collection, 1888-1992 , The Sousa Archives and Center for American MusicHow I Became a Student of Claude Gordonby Claude Gordon student John Mohan
A message to TPIN written by Claude Gordon student John Mohan describing Mr. Gordon's approach to teaching trumpet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Claude
American cornetists
American trumpeters
American male trumpeters
American bandleaders
American conductors (music)
American male conductors (music)
1916 births
1996 deaths
20th-century American musicians
20th-century trumpeters
20th-century American male musicians