Claude Eugene Gordon (April 5, 1916 - May 16, 1996), nicknamed the "King of Brass",[1] was an American trumpet player, band director, educator, lecturer and writer.

His father, James Austin Gordon, was a clarinet player and orchestra director, and his mother, Nellie "Elge", was a pianist.

In 1939, he was cast as the Roma accordion player in the Universal Studios musical film An Old Spanish Custom, later renamed In Rhumba Land.

Claude Gordon published six major books through Carl Fischer Music on brass instrument playing.

[7] 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.

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.