Coordinates	11°14′31″N74°12′19″N
{{infobox| bodyclass	geography
title	Caribbean
label1	Area
data1
label2	Land Area
data2
label3	Population (2010)
data3	36,314,000
label4	Density
data4
label5	Ethnic groups
data5	Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, Chinese Caribbean, Amerindians (Arawak, Caribs, Tainos), European
label6	Demonym
data6	West Indian, Caribbean person, Caribbean
label7	Languages
data7	Spanish, English, French, Dutch and many others
label8	Government
data8	13 sovereign states17 dependent territories
label9	Largest cities
data9	Santo DomingoHavanaSantiago de los CaballerosPort-au-PrinceKingstonSantiago de CubaSan JuanHolguin
label10	Internet TLD
data10	Multiple
label11	Calling code
data11	Multiple
label12	Time zone
data12	UTC-5 to UTC-4 }}

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (most of which are enclosed by the sea), and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and North America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America.

Situated largely on the Caribbean Plate, the region comprises more than 7,000 islands, islets, reefs, and cays. These islands, called the West Indies, generally form island arcs that delineate the eastern and northern edges of the Caribbean Sea. These islands are called the ''West Indies'' because when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492 he believed that he had reached to the west of The India (The Indian sub-continent).

The region consists of the Antilles, divided into the larger Greater Antilles which bound the sea on the north, the Lesser Antilles on the south and east (including the Leeward Antilles), the Bahamas, and the Turks and Caicos Islands or the Lucayan Archipelago, which are in fact in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba, not in the Caribbean Sea.

Geopolitically, the West Indies are usually regarded as a subregion of North America and are organized into 30 territories including sovereign states, overseas departments, and dependencies. From January 3, 1958, to May 31, 1962, there was a short-lived country called the Federation of the West Indies composed of ten English-speaking Caribbean territories, all of which were then UK dependencies. The West Indies cricket team continues to represent many of those nations.

Etymology

The region takes its name from that of the Carib, an ethnic group present in the Lesser Antilles and parts of adjacent South America at the time of European contact.

Definition

The word "Caribbean" has multiple uses. Its principal ones are geographical and political. The Caribbean can also be expanded to include territories with strong cultural and historical connections to slavery, European colonisation and the plantation system.

Physiographically, the Caribbean region consists mainly of the Caribbean Sea to north, bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, the Straits of Florida, the Northern Atlantic Ocean which lies to the east and northeast, and a chain of islands surrounding the Caribbean Sea; the coastline of the continent of South America lies to the south.

Politically, "Caribbean" may be centred on socio-economic groupings found in the region. For example the block known as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) contains both the Co-operative Republic of Guyana and the Republic of Suriname found in South America, along with Belize in Central America as full members. Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands which are found in the Atlantic Ocean are associate members of the Caribbean Community, and the same goes for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas which is a full member of the Caribbean Community.

Alternately the organisation known as the Association of Caribbean States (ACS) consists of almost every nation in the surrounding regions which lie on the Caribbean plus El Salvador which lies solely on the Pacific Ocean. According to the ACS the total population of its member states is some 227 million people.

Geography and climate

The geography and climate in the Caribbean region varies. Some islands in the region have relatively flat terrain of non-volcanic origin. These islands include Aruba (possessing only minor volcanic features), Barbados, Bonaire, the Cayman Islands, Saint Croix, The Bahamas or Antigua. Others possess rugged towering mountain-ranges like the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Dominica, Montserrat, Saba, Saint Kitts, Saint Lucia, Saint Thomas, Saint John, Tortola, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Trinidad & Tobago.

The climate of the region is tropical but rainfall varies with elevation, size and water currents (cool upwellings keep the ABC islands arid). Warm, moist tradewinds blow consistently from the east creating rainforest/semidesert divisions on mountainous islands. Occasional northwesterlies affect the northern islands in the winter. The region enjoys year-round sunshine, divided into 'dry' and 'wet' seasons, with the last six months of the year being wetter than the first half.

The waters of the Caribbean Sea host large, migratory schools of fish, turtles, and coral reef formations. The Puerto Rico trench, located on the fringe of the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea just to the north of the island of Puerto Rico, is the deepest point in all of the Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricanes, which at times batter the region, usually strike northwards of Grenada, and to the west of Barbados. The principal hurricane belt arcs to northwest of the island of Barbados in the Eastern Caribbean.

The region sits in the line of several major shipping routes with the man-made Panama Canal connecting the western Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean.

Island groups

Lucayan Archipelago (United Kingdom)

Greater Antilles

Hispaniola

(United Kingdom) (U.S. Commonwealth)

Lesser Antilles

Leeward Islands

** Saint Croix

** Saint Thomas

** Saint John

** Water Island

(United Kingdom)

** Tortola

** Virgin Gorda

** Anegada

** Jost Van Dyke

(United Kingdom)

** Antigua

** Barbuda

** Redonda

* Saint Martin

* (French Antilles, France)

* (Kingdom of the Netherlands)

Saba (BES islands, Netherlands)

Sint Eustatius (BES islands, Netherlands)

(French Antilles, France)

** Saint Kitts

** Nevis

(United Kingdom)

(French Antilles, France) including

**les Saintes

**Marie-Galante

**la Désirade

Windward Islands

(French Antilles, France)

** Saint Vincent

** The Grenadines

* Tobago

* Trinidad

Leeward Antilles

(Kingdom of the Netherlands)

(Kingdom of the Netherlands)

Bonaire (BES islands, Netherlands)

Historical groupings

All islands at some point were, and a few still are, colonies of European nations; a few are overseas or dependent territories:

British West Indies/Anglophone Caribbean – Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bay Islands, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Croix (briefly), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago ''(from 1797)'' and the Turks and Caicos Islands

Danish West Indies – present-day United States Virgin Islands

Dutch West Indies – Aruba, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten, Virgin Islands, Saint Croix (briefly), Tobago and Bay Islands (briefly)

French West Indies – Anguilla (briefly), Antigua and Barbuda (briefly), Dominica, Dominican Republic (briefly), Grenada, Haiti, Montserrat (briefly), Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Eustatius (briefly), Sint Maarten, St. Kitts (briefly), Tobago (briefly), Saint Croix, the current French overseas ''départements'' of Martinique and Guadeloupe (including Marie-Galante, La Désirade and Les Saintes), and the current French overseas collectivities of Saint Barthélemy and Saint Martin

Portuguese West Indies – present-day Barbados, known as ''Os Barbados'' in the 16th century when the Portuguese claimed the island en route to Brazil. The Portuguese left Barbados abandoned in 1533, nearly a century prior to the British arrival to the island.

Spanish West Indies – Cuba, Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic, Haiti'' (until 1609 to France)'', Puerto Rico, Jamaica ''(until 1655 to Great Britain)'', the Cayman Islands'' (until 1670 to Great Britain)'' Trinidad ''(until 1797 to Great Britain)'' and Bay Islands ''(until 1643 to Great Britain)'', coastal islands of Central America (minus Belize), and some Caribbean coastal islands of Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela.

Swedish West Indies – present-day French Saint-Barthélemy and Guadeloupe (briefly).

Courlander West Indies – Tobago ''(until 1691)''

The British West Indies were united by the United Kingdom into a West Indies Federation between 1958 and 1962. The independent countries formerly part of the B.W.I. still have a joint cricket team that competes in Test matches, One Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. The West Indian cricket team includes the South American nation of Guyana, the only former British colony on that continent.

In addition, these countries share the University of the West Indies as a regional entity. The university consists of three main campuses in Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago, a smaller campus in the Bahamas and Resident Tutors in other contributing territories such as Trinidad.

Modern day island territories

(British overseas territory) (Constitutional monarchy) (Kingdom of the Netherlands) (Constitutional monarchy) (Constitutional monarchy) (special municipality of the Netherlands) (British overseas territory) (British overseas territory) (Republic) (Kingdom of the Netherlands) (Republic) (Constitutional monarchy) (overseas department of France) including

*les Saintes

*Marie-Galante

*la Désirade

(Republic) (Constitutional monarchy) (overseas department of France) (British overseas territory) (commonwealth of the United States) (special municipality of the Netherlands) (overseas collectivity of France) (Constitutional monarchy) (Constitutional monarchy) (overseas collectivity of France) (Constitutional monarchy) (special municipality of the Netherlands) (Kingdom of the Netherlands) (Republic) (British overseas territory) (territory of the United States)

Continental countries with Caribbean coastlines and islands

* Ambergris Caye

* Belize City

* Big Creek

* Caye Caulker

* Glover's Reef

* Dangriga

* Hicks Cays

* Hopkins

* Lighthouse Reef

* Placencia

* Punta Gorda

* St. George's Caye

* South Water Caye

* Turneffe Islands

* Archipelago of San Andres and Providencia

* Barranquilla

* Cartagena

* Riohacha

* Santa Marta

* Guanaja

* Roatán

* Útila

* Cayos Cochinos

* Swan Islands

* Quintana Roo

** Cancún

** Chetumal

** Cozumel

** Isla Contoy

** Isla Mujeres

* Corn Islands

* Cayos Miskitos

* Pearl Cays

* Kuna Yala Islands (comprising more than 1300 islands)

* Bocas del Toro Archipelago (archipelago with approximately 300 islands)

*Florida Keys

*Navassa Island

* Isla Margarita

*Coche Island

*Cubagua Island

*Los Monjes Archipelago

*Las Aves Archipelago

*Isla Aves

*Los Hermanos Archipelago

*Islas Los Frailes

*Los Roques Archipelago

*La Sola Island

*La Tortuga Island

*La Orchila

*Blanquilla Island

*Los Testigos Islands

*Isla de Patos

*Paraguana

Biodiversity

The Caribbean islands are remarkable for the diversity of their animals, fungi and plants, and have been classified as one of Conservation International's biodiversity hotspots because of their exceptionally diverse terrestrial and marine ecosystems, ranging from montane cloud forests to cactus scrublands. The region also contains about 8% (by surface area) of the world's coral reefs along with extensive seagrass meadows, both of which are frequently found in the shallow marine waters bordering island and continental coasts off the region.

For the fungi, there is a modern checklist based on nearly 90,000 records derived from specimens in reference collections, published accounts and field observations. That checklist includes more than 11250 species of fungi recorded from the region. As its authors note, the work is far from exhaustive, and it is likely that the true total number of fungal species already known from the Caribbean is higher. The true total number of fungal species occurring in the Caribbean, including species not yet recorded, is likely to be far higher, given the generally accepted estimate that only about 7% of all fungi worldwide have so far been discovered. Although the amount of available information is still very small, a first effort has been made to estimate the number of fungal species endemic to some Caribbean islands. For Cuba, 2200 species of fungi have been tentatively identified as possible endemics of the island; for Puerto Rico, the number is 789 species; for the Dominican Republic, the number is 699 species; for Trinidad and Tobago, the number is 407 species.

Many of the ecosystems of the Caribbean islands have been devastated by deforestation, pollution, and human encroachment. The arrival of the first humans is correlated with extinction of giant owls and dwarf ground sloths. The hotspot contains dozens of highly threatened animals (ranging from birds, to mammals and reptiles), fungi and plants. Examples of threatened animals include the Puerto Rican Amazon, two species of solenodon (giant shrews) in Cuba and the Hispaniola island, and the Cuban crocodile.

The region's coral reefs, which contain about 70 species of hard corals and between 500-700 species of reef-associated fishes have undergone rapid decline in ecosystem integrity in recent years, and are considered particularly vulnerable to global warming and ocean acidification.

Demographics

The population of the Caribbean is estimated to have been around 750,000 immediately before European contact, although lower and higher figures are given. After contact, genocide and disease led to a decline in the Amerindian population. From 1500 to 1800 the population rose as slaves arrived from West Africa such as the Kongo, Igbo, Akan, Fon and Yoruba as well as military prisoners and captured slaves from Ireland, who were deported during the Cromwellian reign in England. Immigrants from Britain, Italy. France, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark also arrived, although the mortality rate was high for both groups.

The population is estimated to have reached 2.2 million by 1800. Immigrants from India, China, and other countries arrived in the 19th century. After the ending of the Atlantic slave trade, the population increased naturally. The total regional population was estimated at 37.5 million by 2000.

The majority of the Caribbean has populations of mainly Africans in the French Caribbean, Anglophone Caribbean and Dutch Caribbean, there are minorities of mixed-race and European peoples of Dutch, English, French, Italian and Portuguese ancestry. Asians, especially those of Chinese and Indian descent, form a significant minority in the region and also contribute to multiracial communities. All of their ancestors arrived in the 19th century as indentured laborers.

The Spanish-speaking Caribbean have primarily mixed race, African, or European majorities. Puerto Rico and Cuba (largest Caribbean island) have a European majority with a mixture of Spaniards–European, Amerindians, and some West African. One third of Cuba's population is of African descent, with a sizable Mulatto (mixed African–European) population. The Dominican Republic has a largely mixed majority who are primarily descended from West Africans and Spaniards, with some Amerindians.

Larger islands such as Jamaica, have a large African population in addition to a very large mixed race, Chinese, Europeans, Indian, Lebanese, Latin American, and Syrian populations. This is a result of years of importation of slaves and indentured labourers, and migration. Most multi-racial Jamaicans refer to themselves as either mixed race or simply Black. The situation is similar for the Caricom states of Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad and Tobago has a multi-racial cosmopolitan society due to the arrival of the Africans, Indians, Chinese, Syrians, Lebanese, Native Amerindians and Europeans. This multi-racial mix has created sub-ethnicities that often straddle the boundaries of major ethnicities and include Chindian and Dougla.

Indigenous tribes

Taíno

Kalinago

Ciboney

Ciguayo

Galibi

Garifuna

Igneri

Lucayan

Macorix

Language

Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Haitian Creole and Papiamento are the predominant official languages of various countries in the region, though a handful of unique Creole languages or dialects can also be found from one country to another.

Religion

The largest religious groups in the region are: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Rastafari, Santería, and Voodoo among others.

Politics

Regionalism

Caribbean societies are very different from other Western societies in terms of size, culture, and degree of mobility of their citizens. The current economic and political problems which the states face individually are common to all Caribbean states. Regional development has contributed to attempts to subdue current problems and avoid projected problems. From a political economic perspective, regionalism serves to make Caribbean states active participants in current international affairs through collective coalitions. In 1973, the first political regionalism in the Caribbean Basin was created by advances of the English-speaking Caribbean nations through the institution known as the Caribbean Common Market and Community (CARICOM).

Certain scholars have argued both for and against generalizing the political structures of the Caribbean. On the one hand the Caribbean states are politically diverse, ranging from communist systems such as Cuba toward more capitalist Westminster-style parliamentary systems as in the Commonwealth Caribbean. Other scholars argue that these differences are superficial, and that they tend to undermine commonalities in the various Caribbean states. Contemporary Caribbean systems seem to reflect a "blending of traditional and modern patterns, yielding hybrid systems that exhibit significant structural variations and divergent constitutional traditions yet ultimately appear to function in similar ways." The political systems of the Caribbean states share similar practices.

The influence of regionalism in the Caribbean is often marginalized. Some scholars believe that regionalism cannot not exist in the Caribbean because each small state is unique. On the other hand, scholars also suggest that there are commonalities amongst the Caribbean nations that suggest regionalism exists. "Proximity as well as historical ties among the Caribbean nations has led to cooperation as well as a desire for collective action." These attempts at regionalization reflect the nations' desires to compete in the international economic system.

Furthermore, a lack of interest from other major states promoted regionalism in the region. In recent years the Caribbean has suffered from a lack of U.S. interest. "With the end of the Cold War, U.S. security and economic interests have been focused on other areas. As a result there has been a significant reduction in U.S. aid and investment to the Caribbean." The lack of international support for these small, relatively poor states, helped regionalism prosper.

Following the Cold War another issue of importance in the Caribbean has been the reduced economic growth of some Caribbean States due to the United States and European Union's allegations of special treatment toward the region by each other.

United States effects on regionalism

The United States under President Bill Clinton launched a challenge in the World Trade Organization against the EU over Europe's preferential program, known as the Lomé Convention, which allowed banana exports from the former colonies of the Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific states (ACP) to enter Europe cheaply. The World Trade Organization sided in the United States' favour and the beneficial elements of the convention to African, Caribbean and Pacific states has been partially dismantled and replaced by the Cotonou Agreement.

During the US/EU dispute the United States imposed large tariffs on European Union goods (up to 100% on some imports) from the EU in order to pressure Europe to change the agreement with the Caribbean nations in favour of the Cotonou Agreement.

Farmers in the Caribbean have complained of their falling profits and rising costs as the Lomé Convention weakens. Some farmers have faced increased pressure to turn towards the cultivation of illegal drugs, which has a higher profit margin and fills the sizable demand for these illegal drugs in North America and Europe.

European Union effects on regionalism

The European Union has also taken issue with US based taxation extended to US companies via the Caribbean countries. The EU instituted a broad labeling of many nations as tax havens by the France-based OECD. The United States has not been in favor of shutting off the practice yet, mainly due to the higher costs that would be passed on to US companies via taxation. Caribbean countries have largely countered the allegations by the OECD by signing more bilateral information sharing deals with OECD members, thus reducing the dangerous aspects of secrecy, and they have strengthened their legislation against money laundering and on the conditions under which companies can be based in their nations. The Caribbean nations have also started to more closely cooperate in the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force and other instruments to add oversight of the offshore industry.

One of the most important associations that deal with regionalism amongst the nations of the Caribbean Basin has been the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). Proposed by CARICOM in 1992, the ACS soon won the support of the other countries of the region. It was founded in July 1994. The ACS maintains regionalism within the Caribbean on issues which are unique to the Caribbean Basin. Through coalition building, like the ACS and CARICOM, regionalism has become an undeniable part of the politics and economics of the Caribbean. The successes of region-building initiatives are still debated by scholars, yet regionalism remains prevalent throughout the Caribbean.

Regional institutions

Here are some of the bodies that several islands share in collaboration:

Association of Caribbean States (ACS), Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce (CAIC), Trinidad and Tobago Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO), Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Guyana

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Barbados

Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), Barbados

Caribbean Educators Network, Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC), Saint Lucia

Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Barbados and Jamaica

Caribbean Food Crop Society

Caribbean Football Union (CFU)

Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), Puerto Rico

Caribbean Initiative (Initiative of the IUCN)

Caribbean Programme for Economic Competitiveness (CPEC), Saint Lucia

Caribbean Regional Environmental Programme (CREP), Barbados Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), Belize Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM), Barbados and Dominican Republic Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), Trinidad and Tobago

Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), Barbados

Inter-American Economic Council (IAEC), Washington, D.C.

Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), Saint Lucia

Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC), Brazil and Uruguay

United Nations - Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Chile and Trinidad and Tobago

University of the West Indies, Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago. In addition, the fourth campus, the Open Campus was formed in June 2008 as a result of an amalgamation of the Board for Non-Campus Countries and Distance Educationn, Schools of Continuing Studies, the UWI Distance Education Centres and Tertiary Level Units. The Open Campus has 42 physical sites in 16 Anglophone caribbean countries. West Indies Cricket Board, Antigua and Barbuda

Cuisine

Favorite or national dishes

Anguilla - Rice and Peas and Fish

Antigua and Barbuda - Fungee & Pepperpot

Bahamas - Crack Conch with Peas and Rice

Barbados - Cou-Cou and Flying fish

British Virgin Islands - Fish and fungee

Cayman Islands - Turtle Stew

Colombian Caribbean - Rice with Coconut Milk, arroz con pollo, Sancocho, Arab cuisine due to large Arab immigration

Cuba - Platillo Moros y Cristianos, Ropa Vieja, Yuca, Maduros, Ajiaco

Dominica - Mountain chicken

Dominican Republic - arroz con pollo topped with stewed red kidney beans, pan fried or braised beef, and side dish of green salad or ensalada de coditos, shrimp, empanadas and/or tostones, or the ever popular Dominican dish known as Mangú which is mashed plantains. The ensemble is usually called ''bandera nacional'', which means "national flag", a term equivalent to the Venezuelan ''pabellón criollo''.

Grenada - Oil-Down

Guyana - pepperpot, coookup rice, Roti and curry, methem

Haiti - Griot (Fried pork) served with Du riz a pois or Diri ak Pwa (Rice and beans)

Jamaica - ackee and saltfish, callaloo

Montserrat - Goat Water

Puerto Rico - Arroz con gandules with roasted pork shoulder, arroz con pollo, Mofongo, and Many Fried Food, Commonly made In the Beaches and Coast like, Alcapurrias, bacalaito, piononos.

Saint Kitts and Nevis - Coconut dumplings, Spicy plantain, saltfish, breadfruit

Saint Lucia - Green Bananas & Dried and salted cod

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines - Roasted Breadfruit & Fried Jackfish

Trinidad and Tobago - Doubles, Roti and Curry, Crab and dumpling, Pelau

United States Virgin Islands - Stewed goat, oxtail or beef, seafood, callaloo, fungee

See also

African diaspora

Anchor coinage

British Afro-Caribbean community

Caribbean Countries

Caribbean English

Caribbean Spanish

History of the Caribbean

Indo-Caribbean

Music of the Caribbean

Piracy in the Caribbean

Politics of the Caribbean

Tourism in Caribbean

NECOBELAC Project

Geography:

Americas (terminology)

Caribbean Sea

Islands of the Caribbean

List of indigenous names ofeastern Caribbean islands

Middle America (Americas)

Mountain peaks of the Caribbean

Organisations:

Caribbean Community

CONCACAF

Council on Hemispheric Affairs

West Indies Federation

References

"Diversity Amid Globalization" 4th edition. Rowntree, Lewis, Price, Wyckoff.

Further reading

Develtere, Patrick. 1994. "Co-operation and development: With special reference to the experience of the Commonwealth Caribbean" ACCO, ISBN 90-334-3181-5

Gowricharn, Ruben. Caribbean Transnationalism: Migraton, Pluralization, and Social Cohesion. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2006.

Henke, Holger, and Fred Reno, eds. Modern Political Culture in the Caribbean. Kingston: University of West Indies Press, 2003.

Heuman, Gad. The Caribbean: Brief Histories. London: A Hodder Arnold Publication, 2006

Hillman, Richard S., and Thomas J. D'agostino, eds. Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean. London: Lynne Rienner, 2003.

de Kadt, Emanuel, (editor). ''Patterns of foreign influence in the Caribbean'', Oxford University Press, 1972

Knight, Franklin W.. The Modern Caribbean. na: The University of North Carolina Press, 1989.

Kurlansky, Mark. 1992. ''A Continent of Islands: Searching for the Caribbean Destiny''. Addison-Wesley Publishing. ISBN 0-201-52396-5

Langley, Lester D. The United States and the Caribbean in the Twentieth Century. London: University of Georgia Press, 1989.

Maingot, Anthony P. The United States and the Caribbean: Challenges of an Asymmetrical Relationship. Westview P, 1994.

Ramnarine, Tina K., "Beautiful Cosmos: Performance and Belonging in the Caribbean Diaspora". London, Pluto Press, 2007

Serbin, Andres. "Towards an Association of Caribbean States: Raising Some Awkward Questions." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs (2004): 1-19. (This scholar has many articles referencing the politics of the Caribbean)

External links

Wikitravel - The Caribbean

Digital Library of the Caribbean

Federal Research Division of the U.S. Library of Congress: Caribbean Islands (1987)

Library of Congress definition of the West Indies

West Indies papers Miscellaneous personal and estate records, 1663–1929, University of Bristol Library Special Collections

LANIC Caribbean country pages

Latineos Latin America, Caribbean, arts and culture

Category:Biodiversity hotspots Category:Regions of the Americas

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Coordinates	11°14′31″N74°12′19″N
name	Howard Hughes
birth name	Howard Robard Hughes, Jr.
birth date	December 24, 1905
birth place	Humble, Texas, US
death date	April 05, 1976
death place	Houston, Texas, US
alma mater	Rice University (dropped out in 1924)
occupation	Chairman of Hughes Aircraft, businessman, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist.
years active	1926–1976
spouse	(alleged)
net worth	USD $1.5 billion at the time of his death (approximately 1/1190th of US GNP)
signature	Howard Hughes signature.svg

}} Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, investor, aviator, engineer, film producer, director, and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained prominence from the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, making big-budget and often controversial films like ''The Racket'' (1928), ''Hell's Angels'' (1930), ''Scarface'' (1932), and ''The Outlaw'' (1943). Hughes was one of the most influential aviators in history; he set multiple world air-speed records, built the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 "Hercules" (better known to history as the "Spruce Goose") aircraft, and acquired and expanded Trans World Airlines which would later on merge with American Airlines. Hughes is also remembered for his eccentric behavior and reclusive lifestyle in later life, caused in part by a worsening obsessive–compulsive disorder. His legacy is maintained through the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Early years

Hughes' birthplace is recorded as either Humble or Houston, Texas. The date is also uncertain, though Hughes claimed his birthday was Christmas Eve. A 1941 affidavit birth certificate of Hughes signed by his aunt Annette Gano Lummis and Estelle Boughton Sharp states he was born on December 24, 1905, in Harris County, Texas. However, his baptismal record of October 7, 1906, in the parish register of St. John's Episcopal Church, in Keokuk, Iowa, has his birth listed as September 24, 1905, without reference to the place of birth.

His parents were Allene Stone Gano (a descendant of Owen Tudor, second husband of Catherine of Valois, Dowager Queen of England) and Howard R. Hughes, Sr., who patented the two-cone roller bit, which allowed rotary drilling for petroleum in previously inaccessible places. Howard R. Hughes, Sr. made the shrewd and lucrative decision to commercialize the invention by leasing the bits instead of selling them, and founded the Hughes Tool Company in 1909.

Showing great aptitude in engineering at an early age, Hughes built Houston's first radio transmitter when he was 11 years old. At 12, he was photographed in the local newspaper as being the first boy in Houston to have a "motorized" bicycle, which he had built himself from parts taken from his father's steam engine. He was an indifferent student with a liking for mathematics, flying, and things mechanical, taking his first flying lesson at 14 and later auditing math and aeronautical engineering courses at Caltech.

Allene Hughes died in March 1922 from complications of an ectopic pregnancy. In January 1924, Howard Hughes Sr. died of a heart attack. Their deaths apparently inspired Hughes to include the creation of a medical research laboratory in his will that he signed in 1925, at age 19. Because Howard Sr.'s will had not been updated since Allene's death, Hughes inherited 75 percent of the family fortune. On his 19th birthday, Hughes was declared an emancipated minor, enabling him to take full control of his legacy.

Hughes was an outstanding and enthusiastic golfer from a young age, often scoring near par figures, and held a handicap of three during his twenties. He played frequently with top players, including Gene Sarazen. Hughes rarely played competitively, and gradually gave up his interest in the sport.

Hughes dropped out of Rice University shortly after his father's death. On June 1, 1925, he married Ella Botts Rice (1904–1992), daughter of David Rice and Martha Lawson Botts of Houston, Texas. They moved to Los Angeles, where he hoped to make a name for himself making movies.

Hollywood years

His first two films, ''Everybody's Acting'' (1927) and ''Two Arabian Knights'' (1928), were financial successes, the latter winning the first Academy Award for Best Director of a Comedy Picture. ''The Racket'' (1928) and ''The Front Page'' (1931) were also nominated for Academy Awards. Hughes spent US$3.8 million to make the flying film ''Hell's Angels'' (1930). He produced another hit, ''Scarface'' (1932), a production delayed by censors' concern over its violence. ''The Outlaw'' (1943), completed in 1941, which featured Jane Russell, also received considerable attention from industry censors, this time owing to Russell's revealing costumes. Hughes designed a special bra for his leading lady, although Russell decided against wearing the bra because of a mediocre fit.

Hughes' wife returned to Houston in 1929 and filed for divorce. Hughes dated many famous women, including Billie Dove, Bette Davis, Ava Gardner, Olivia de Havilland, Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney. He also proposed to Joan Fontaine several times, according to her autobiography ''No Bed of Roses''. Bessie Love was a mistress during his first marriage. Jean Harlow accompanied him to the premiere of ''Hell's Angels'', but Noah Dietrich wrote many years later that the relationship was strictly professional—Hughes personally disliked Harlow. In his 1971 book, ''Howard: The Amazing Mr. Hughes'', Dietrich said that Hughes genuinely liked and respected Jane Russell but never sought romantic involvement with her. According to Russell's autobiography, however, Hughes once tried to bed her after a party. Russell (who was married at the time) refused him and Hughes promised it would never happen again. The two maintained a professional and private friendship for many years. Hughes remained good friends with Tierney who was quoted after his failed attempts to seduce her "I don't think Howard could love anything that did not have a motor in it." Later, when Tierney's daughter Daria was born deaf and blind and with severe mental retardation, due to Tierney's being exposed to rubella during her pregnancy, Hughes saw to it that Daria received the best medical care and paid all expenses.

On July 11, 1936, Hughes struck and killed a pedestrian named Gabriel S. Meyer with his car, at the corner of 3rd Street and Lorraine in Los Angeles. Although Hughes was certified as sober at the hospital to which he was taken after the accident, an attending doctor made a note that Hughes had been drinking. A witness to the accident told police that Hughes was driving erratically and too fast, and that Meyer had been standing in the safety zone of a streetcar stop. Hughes was booked on suspicion of negligent homicide and held overnight in jail until his attorney, Neil McCarthy, obtained a writ of habeas corpus for his release pending a Coroner's inquest. By the time of the coroner's inquiry, however, the witness had changed his story and claimed that Meyer had moved directly in front of Hughes's car. Nancy Bayly (Watts), who was in the car with Hughes at the time of the accident, corroborates this version. On July 16, 1936, Hughes was held blameless by a Coroner's jury at the inquest into Meyer's death. Hughes told reporters outside the inquiry, "I was driving slowly and a man stepped out of the darkness in front of me."

On January 12, 1957, Hughes married actress Jean Peters. The couple met in the 1940s, before Peters became a film actress. They had a highly publicized romance in 1947 and there was talk of marriage, but she said she could not combine it with her career. It was later claimed that Peters was "the only woman [Hughes] ever loved", and he reportedly had his security officers follow her everywhere even when they were not in a relationship. This was confirmed by actor Max Showalter, who became a close friend of Peters during shooting of ''Niagara'' (1953). Showalter told in an interview that because he frequently met with Peters, Hughes' men threatened to ruin his career if he did not leave her alone.

Aviation

Hughes was a lifelong aircraft enthusiast and pilot. At Rogers Airport in Los Angeles, he learned to fly from pioneer aviators, including Moye Stephens. He set many world records and commissioned the construction of custom aircraft to be built for himself while heading Hughes Aircraft at the airport in Glendale. Operating from there, the most technologically important aircraft he commissioned was the Hughes H-1 Racer. On September 13, 1935, Hughes, flying the H-1, set the landplane airspeed record of 352 mph (566 km/h) over his test course near Santa Ana, California (Giuseppe Motta reached 362 mph in 1929 and George Stainforth reached 407.5 mph in 1931, both in seaplanes). A year and a half later, on January 19, 1937, flying a redesigned H-1 Racer featuring extended wings, Hughes set a new transcontinental airspeed record by flying non-stop from Los Angeles to Newark in 7 hours, 28 minutes and 25 seconds (beating his own previous record of 9 hours, 27 minutes). His average ground speed over the flight was 322 mph (518 km/h).

The H-1 Racer featured a number of design innovations: it had retractable landing gear (as Boeing Monomail had five years before) and all rivets and joints set flush into the body of the aircraft to reduce drag. The H-1 Racer is thought to have influenced the design of a number of World War II fighters such as the Mitsubishi Zero, the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 and the F8F Bearcat; although that has never been reliably confirmed. The H-1 Racer was donated to the Smithsonian in 1975 and is on display at the National Air and Space Museum.

On July 10, 1938, Hughes set another record by completing a flight around the world in just 91 hours (3 days, 19 hours), beating the previous record by more than four hours. Taking off from New York City, he continued to Paris, Moscow, Omsk, Yakutsk, Fairbanks, Minneapolis, and continued to New York City. For this flight he flew a Lockheed Super Electra (a twin-engine transport with a four-man crew) fitted with all of the latest radio and navigational equipment. Hughes wanted the flight to be a triumph of technology, illustrating that safe, long-distance air travel was possible. In 1938, the William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, known at the time as Houston Municipal Airport, was re-named Howard Hughes Airport, but the name was changed back after people objected to naming the airport after a living person.

He also had a participated in the design and financing of both the Boeing 307 Stratoliner and Lockheed L-049 Constellation.

Hughes received many awards as an aviator, including the Harmon Trophy in 1936 and 1938, the Collier Trophy in 1938, the Octave Chanute Award in 1940, and a special Congressional Gold Medal in 1939 "in recognition of the achievements of Howard Hughes in advancing the science of aviation and thus bringing great credit to his country throughout the world." According to his obituary in the ''New York Times'', Hughes never bothered to come to Washington to pick up the Congressional Gold Medal. It was eventually mailed to him by President Harry S. Truman.

Hughes D-2 and XF-11

The Hughes D-2 was conceived in 1939 as a bomber with 5 crew members, powered by 42-cylinder Wright R-2160 Tornado engines. In the end it appeared as 2 person fighter-reconnaissance aircraft designated the D-2A, powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800-49 engines. The aircraft was constructed using the Duramold process. The prototype was brought to Harper's Dry Lake California in great secrecy in 1943 and first flew on June 20th of that year. In November 1944, the hangar containing the D-2A was hit by lightning and the aircraft was destroyed. The design of the D-2 led to the Hughes XF-11. The XF-11 was an all-metal, two place reconnaissance aircraft, powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-4360-31 engines, each driving a set of contra-rotation propellers.

Near-fatal crash of the XF-11

Hughes was involved in a near-fatal aircraft accident on July 7, 1946, while piloting the experimental U.S. Army Air Force reconnaissance aircraft, the XF-11, over Los Angeles. An oil leak caused one of the contra-rotating propellers to reverse pitch, causing the aircraft to yaw sharply. Hughes tried to save the craft by landing it at the Los Angeles Country Club golf course, but just seconds before he could reach his attempted destination, the XF-11 started to drop dramatically and crashed in the Beverly Hills neighborhood surrounding the country club.

When the XF-11 finally came to a halt after destroying three houses, the fuel tanks exploded, setting fire to the aircraft and a nearby home at 808 North Whittier Drive, owned by Lt Col. Charles E. Meyer. Hughes managed to pull himself out of the flaming wreckage but lay beside the aircraft until he was rescued by Marine Master Sergeant William L. Durkin, who happened to be in the area visiting friends. Hughes sustained significant injuries in the crash, including a crushed collar bone, multiple cracked ribs, crushed chest with collapsed left lung, shifting his heart to the right side of the chest cavity, and numerous third-degree burns.

However, Hughes was proud that his mind was still working. As he lay in his hospital bed, he decided that he did not like the bed's design. He called in plant engineers to design a "tailor-made" bed, equipped with hot and cold running water, built in six sections, and operated by 30 electric motors, with push-button adjustments.

Many attribute his long-term addiction to opiates to his use of codeine as a painkiller during his convalescence. The trademark mustache he wore afterward was used to hide a scar on his upper lip resulting from the accident.

Near-fatal crash of the Sikorsky S-43

In the spring of 1943 Hughes spent nearly a month in Las Vegas, test flying his Sikorsky S-43 amphibian aircraft, practicing touch and go landings on Lake Mead in preparation for flying the Spruce Goose. The weather conditions at the lake during the day were ideal and he enjoyed Las Vegas at night. On May 17, 1943 Hughes flew the Sikorsky from California carrying two CAA aviation inspectors, two of his employees and actress Ava Gardner. Hughes dropped Gardener off in Las Vegas and proceeded to Lake Mead to conduct qualifying tests in the S-43. The test flight did not go well. The Sikorsky crashed killing CAA inspector Ceco Cline and Hughes employee Richard Felt. Hughes suffered a severe gash on the top of his head when he hit the upper control panel and had to be rescued by one of others on board. Hughes paid divers $100,000 to raise the aircraft and later spent over $500,000 restoring the aircraft.

H-4 Hercules

The Hughes H-4 Hercules was originally contracted by the U.S. government for use during World War II to transport troops and equipment across the Atlantic as an alternative to sea-going troop transport ships that were vulnerable to German U-boats. However the aircraft was not completed until after the end of World War II. The concept for the Hercules was originally conceived by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, who teamed with Hughes to build the aircraft.

The Hercules was the world's largest flying boat, the largest aircraft made from wood, and, at , had the longest wingspan of any aircraft (the next largest wingspan is about shorter). (The Hercules is no longer the longest or heaviest aircraft ever built; both of those titles are currently held by the Antonov An-225).

The Hercules flew only once for one mile (1.6 km), and 70 feet (21m) above the water, with Hughes at the controls, on November 2, 1947.

The Hercules was nicknamed the "Spruce Goose" by critics, but was actually made largely from birch (not from spruce), rather than of aluminum, because the contract required the aircraft to be built of "non-strategic materials." It was built in Hughes's Westchester, California facility. Howard Hughes was summoned to testify before the Senate War Investigating Committee to explain why the aircraft had not been delivered to the United States Army Air Forces during the war, but the committee disbanded without releasing a final report. The aircraft was moved to McMinnville, Oregon, where it is now part of the Evergreen Aviation Museum.

Hughes Aircraft

Hughes Aircraft Company, a division of Hughes Tool Company, was originally founded by Hughes in 1932, in a rented corner of a Lockheed Aircraft Corporation hangar in Burbank, California, to build the H-1 racer. During and after World War II, Hughes fashioned his company into a major defense contractor. The Hughes Helicopters division started in 1947 when helicopter manufacturer Kellett sold their latest design to Hughes for production.

In 1948, Hughes created a new division of the company, the Hughes Aerospace Group. The Hughes Space and Communications Group and the Hughes Space Systems Division were later spun off in 1948 to form their own divisions and ultimately became the Hughes Space and Communications Company in 1961. In 1953, Howard Hughes gave all his stock in the Hughes Aircraft Company to the newly formed Howard Hughes Medical Institute, thereby turning the aerospace and defense contractor into a tax-exempt charitable organization. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute sold Hughes Aircraft in 1985 to General Motors for US$5.2 billion. In 1997, General Motors sold Hughes Aircraft to Raytheon and in 2000, sold Hughes Space & Communications to Boeing. A combination of Boeing, GM and Raytheon acquired the Hughes Research Laboratories.

Airlines

In 1939, at the urging of Jack Frye, president of TWA, Hughes quietly purchased a majority share of TWA stock for nearly US$7 million and took control of the airline. Upon assuming ownership, Hughes was prohibited by federal law from building his own aircraft. Seeking an aircraft that would perform better than TWA's fleet of Boeing 307 Stratoliners, Hughes approached Boeing's competitor, Lockheed. Hughes had a good relationship with Lockheed since they had built the aircraft he used in his record flight around the world in 1938. Lockheed agreed to Hughes's request that the new aircraft be built in secrecy. The result was the revolutionary Constellation and TWA purchased the first 40 of the new airliners off the production line.

In 1956, Hughes placed an order for 63 Convair 880s for TWA at a cost of US$400 million. Although Hughes was extremely wealthy at this time, outside creditors demanded that Hughes relinquish control of TWA in return for providing the money. In 1960, Hughes was ultimately forced out of TWA, although he owned 78% of the company and battled to regain control.

Before Hughes' removal, the TWA jet financing issue precipitated the end of Hughes' relationship with Noah Dietrich. Dietrich claimed Hughes developed a plan by which Hughes Tool Company profits were to be inflated in order to sell the company for a windfall that would pay the bills for the 880s. Dietrich agreed to go to Texas to implement the plan on the condition that Hughes agreed to a capital gains arrangement he had long promised Dietrich. When Hughes balked, Dietrich resigned immediately. "Noah," Dietrich quoted Hughes as replying, "I cannot exist without you!" Dietrich stood firm and eventually had to sue to retrieve personal possessions from his office after Hughes ordered it locked.

In 1966, Hughes was forced by a U.S. federal court to sell his shares in TWA because of concerns over conflict of interest between his ownership of both TWA and Hughes Aircraft. The sale of his TWA shares netted him a profit of US$547 million. During the 1970s, Hughes went back into the airline business, buying the airline Air West and renaming it Hughes Airwest.

RKO

In 1948, Hughes gained control of RKO, a struggling major Hollywood studio, by acquiring 25 percent of the outstanding stock from Floyd Odlum's Atlas Corporation. Within weeks of taking control, he dismissed three-quarters of the work force and production was shut down for six months in 1949 while he undertook the investigation of the politics of all remaining studio employees. Completed pictures would be sent back for re-shooting if he felt his star (especially female) was not properly presented, or if a film's anti-communist politics were not sufficiently clear. In 1952, an aborted sale to a Chicago-based group with no experience in the industry disrupted studio operations even further.

Hughes sold the RKO theaters in 1953 as settlement of the ''United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.'' antitrust case. With the sale of the profitable theaters, the shaky status of the film studio became increasingly apparent. A steady stream of lawsuits from RKO's minority shareholders, charging him with financial misconduct and corporate mismanagement, became an increasing nuisance, especially because Hughes wanted to focus on his aircraft-manufacturing and TWA holdings during the Korean War years. Eager to be rid of the distraction, Hughes offered to buy out all other stockholders.

By the end of 1954, at a cost of nearly US$24 million, he had gained near total control of RKO, becoming the closest thing to a sole owner of a Hollywood studio seen in three decades. Six months later, Hughes sold the studio to the General Tire and Rubber Company for US$25 million. Hughes retained the rights to pictures he had personally produced, including those made at RKO. He also retained Jane Russell's contract. For Howard Hughes, this was the virtual end of his 25-year involvement in motion pictures; though he had all but destroyed a major Hollywood studio, his reputation as a financial wizard emerged unscathed. He reportedly walked away from RKO having made US$6.5 million in personal profit.

General Tire was interested mainly in exploiting the value of the RKO library for television programming, though it made some attempts to continue producing films. After a year and a half of mixed success, General Tire shut down film production at RKO for good at the end of January 1957. The studio lots in Hollywood and Culver City were sold to Desilu Productions later that year for US$6.15 million.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

In 1953, Hughes launched the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland, formed with the express goal of basic biomedical research, including trying to understand, in Hughes' words, the "genesis of life itself." Hughes' first will, which he signed in 1925 at the age of 19, stipulated that a portion of his estate should be used to create a medical institute bearing his name. When a major battle with the IRS loomed ahead, Hughes gave all his stock in the Hughes Aircraft Company to the institute, thereby turning the aerospace and defense contractor into a for-profit entity of a fully tax-exempt charity. Hughes' internist, Dr. Verne Mason, who treated Hughes after his 1946 plane crash, was chairman of the institute's medical advisory committee. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's new board of trustees sold Hughes Aircraft in 1985 to General Motors for US$5.2 billion, allowing the institute to grow dramatically.

The deal was the topic of a protracted legal battle between Hughes and the Internal Revenue Service, which Hughes ultimately won. After his death in 1976, many thought that the balance of Hughes' estate would go to the institute, although it was ultimately divided among his cousins and other heirs, given the lack of a will to the contrary. The HHMI was the 4th largest private organization as of 2007 and the largest devoted to biological and medical research, with an endowment of US$16.3 billion as of June 2007.

Nixon scandal

Shortly before the 1960 Presidential election, Richard Nixon was harmed by revelations of a US$205,000 loan from Hughes to Nixon's brother Donald.

In late 1971, Donald Nixon was collecting intelligence for his brother in preparation for the upcoming presidential election. One of Donald's sources was John H. Meier, a former business adviser of Hughes who had also worked with Democratic National Chairman Larry O'Brien.

However, Meier conspired with former Vice President of the United States, Hubert Humphrey, and others to feed disinformation to the Nixon campaign. Meier told Donald that he was sure the Democrats would win the election because Larry O’Brien had a great deal of information on Richard Nixon’s illicit dealings with Hughes that had never been released; (O’Brien didn’t actually have any such information, but Meier wanted Nixon to think he did.) Donald told his brother that O’Brien was in possession of damaging information that could destroy his campaign.

Glomar Explorer

In 1972, Hughes was approached by the CIA to help secretly recover Soviet submarine K-129 which had sunk near Hawaii four years earlier. Thus the ''Glomar Explorer'', a special-purpose salvage vessel, was born. Hughes' involvement provided the CIA with a plausible cover story, having to do with civilian marine research at extreme depths and the mining of undersea manganese nodules. In the summer of 1974, ''Glomar Explorer'' attempted to raise the Soviet vessel.

However, during the recovery a mechanical failure in the ship's grapple caused half of the submarine to break off and fall to the ocean floor. This section is believed to have held many of the most sought-after items, including its code book and nuclear missiles. Two nuclear-tipped torpedoes and some cryptographic machines were recovered, along with the bodies of six Soviet submariners who were subsequently given formal burial at sea in a filmed ceremony. The operation, known as Project Azorian (but incorrectly referred to by the press as Project Jennifer), became public in February 1975 because burglars had obtained secret documents from Hughes' headquarters in June 1974. Though he lent his name to the operation, Hughes and his companies had no actual involvement in the project.

Mental illness and physical decline

As early as the 1930s, Hughes displayed signs of mental illness, primarily obsessive-compulsive disorder. Close friends reported that he was obsessed with the size of peas, one of his favorite foods, and used a special fork to sort them by size.

While directing ''The Outlaw'', Hughes became fixated on a minor flaw in one of Jane Russell's blouses, claiming that the fabric bunched up along a seam and gave the appearance of two nipples on each breast. He was reportedly so upset by the matter that he wrote a detailed memorandum to the crew on how to fix the problem. Richard Fleischer, who directed ''His Kind of Woman'' with Hughes as executive producer, wrote at length in his autobiography about the difficulty of dealing with the tycoon. In his book, ''Just Tell Me When to Cry'', Fleischer explained that Hughes was fixated on trivial details and was alternately indecisive and obstinate. He also revealed that Hughes' unpredictable mood swings made him wonder if the film would ever be completed.

In December 1947, Hughes told his aides that he wanted to screen some movies at a film studio near his home. Hughes stayed in the studio's darkened screening room for more than four months, never leaving. He subsisted exclusively on chocolate bars and milk, and relieved himself in the empty bottles and containers. He was surrounded by dozens of Kleenex boxes, which he continuously stacked and re-arranged. He wrote detailed memos to his aides on yellow legal pads giving them explicit instructions not to look at him, to respond when spoken to, but otherwise not speak to him. Throughout this period, Hughes sat fixated in his chair, often naked, continuously watching movies, reel after reel, day after day. When he finally emerged in the spring of 1948, his hygiene was terrible, as he had not bathed or cut his hair and nails for weeks. The Screening Room was located at Sunset Blvd. and Doheny Drive in Los Angeles, it was owned by Martin Nosseck and it was called, "Martin Nosseck Projection Theatre." Martin Nosseck was the full time projectionist for Hughes during that time.

After the screening room incident, Hughes moved into a bungalow at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He also rented out several other rooms for his aides, his wife, and his numerous girlfriends. His erratic behavior continued, however, as he would sit naked in his bedroom with a pink hotel napkin placed over his genitals, watching movies. In one year, he spent an estimated $11 million at the hotel.

In a bout of obsession with his home state, Hughes began purchasing all restaurant chains and four star hotels that had been founded within the borders of Texas. This included, if for only a short period, many unknown franchises currently out of business. Ownership of the restaurants was placed in the hands of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and all licenses were resold shortly after.

Another time, he became obsessed with the 1968 film ''Ice Station Zebra'' and had it running on a continuous loop in his home. According to his aides, he watched it 150 times.

Hughes insisted on using tissues to pick up objects, so that he could insulate himself from germs. He would also notice dust, stains or other imperfections on people's clothes and demand that they take care of it.

Once one of the most visible men in America, Hughes ultimately vanished from public view, although the tabloids continued to follow rumors of his behavior and whereabouts. He was reported to be terminally ill, mentally unstable or even dead.

As a result of numerous plane crashes, Hughes spent much of his later life in pain, eventually becoming severely addicted to codeine, which he injected intramuscularly. Hughes only had his hair cut and nails trimmed once a year. He may have been in severe chronic pain from his extensive injuries, so much so that even the act of tooth brushing was painful, so he avoided it.

A retrospective case study suggests that Hughes' drug situation is more reminiscent of "pseudoaddiction" than true addiction; he suffered chronic pain and used narcotic medicine to control it. He did not inject it intravenously for immediate effect, rather, he injected it into muscle, where it would have more of an effect on pain, however it should be noted that codeine, when injected intravenously, leads to life threatening symptoms and is not by any means a safe route of administration, under any circumstance. He did not use tobacco or other drugs, and rarely consumed alcohol. He used diazepam to control the symptoms of withdrawal when he had not taken enough codeine. At the time, the field of pain management was small and there were few options for long-term pain control. As codeine is a relatively weak narcotic, his pain was probably not controlled effectively.

Toward the end of his life, his inner circle was largely composed of Mormons, as they were the only people he considered trustworthy, even though Hughes himself was not a member of their church.

Las Vegas baron and recluse

The wealthy and aging Howard Hughes, accompanied by his entourage of personal aides, began moving from one hotel to another, always taking up residence in the top floor penthouse. During the last ten years of his life, from 1966 to 1976, Hughes lived in hotels in Beverly Hills, Boston, Las Vegas, Nassau, Freeport, Vancouver, London, Managua, Acapulco, and others.

On November 24, 1966 (Thanksgiving Day), Hughes arrived in Las Vegas by railroad car and moved into the Desert Inn. Because he refused to leave the hotel and to avoid further conflicts with the owners of the hotel, Hughes bought the Desert Inn in early 1967. The hotel's eighth floor became the nerve center of his empire and the ninth-floor penthouse became Hughes' personal residence. Between 1966 and 1968, Hughes bought several other hotels/casinos such as the Castaways, New Frontier, The Landmark Hotel and Casino, and the Sands. He bought the small Silver Slipper casino only to reposition the hotel's trademark neon silver slipper, visible from Hughes bedroom, which apparently had been keeping him up at night. An unusual incident marked an earlier Hughes connection to Las Vegas: during his 1954 engagement at the Last Frontier hotel in Las Vegas, flamboyant entertainer Liberace mistook Howard Hughes for his lighting director, instructing him to instantly bring up a blue light should he start to play ''Clair de lune''. Hughes nodded in compliance. Then the hotel's entertainment director arrived to properly introduce Hughes to Liberace.

Hughes wanted to change the image of Las Vegas to something more glamorous than it was. As Hughes wrote in a memo to an aide, "I like to think of Las Vegas in terms of a well-dressed man in a dinner jacket and a beautifully jeweled and furred female getting out of an expensive car." Hughes bought several local television stations (including KLAS-TV).

Hughes' considerable business holdings were overseen by a small panel unofficially dubbed "The Mormon Mafia" because of the many Latter-day Saints on the committee. In addition to supervising day-to-day business operations and Hughes' health, they also went to great pains to satisfy Hughes' every whim. Hughes once became fond of Baskin-Robbins' Banana Ripple ice cream, so his aides sought to secure a bulk shipment for him—only to discover that Baskin-Robbins had discontinued the flavor. They put in a request for the smallest amount the company could provide for a special order, 200 gallons (750 L), and had it shipped from Los Angeles. A few days after the order arrived, Hughes announced he was tired of Banana Ripple and wanted only Chocolate Marshmallow ice cream. The Desert Inn ended up distributing free Banana Ripple ice cream to casino customers for a year. In a 1996 interview, ex-Howard Hughes communicator Robert Maheu said "There is a rumor that there is still some Banana Ripple ice cream left in the freezer. It is most likely true."

As an owner of several major businesses in Las Vegas, Hughes wielded enormous political and economic influence in Nevada and elsewhere. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Hughes disapproved of the underground nuclear testing taking place at the Nevada Test Site. Hughes was concerned about the risk posed by the residual nuclear radiation from the tests, and so attempted to halt the tests. When the tests finally went through despite Hughes' efforts, the detonations were powerful enough that the entire hotel in which he was staying trembled with the shock waves. In two separate, last-ditch maneuvers, Hughes instructed his representatives to offer million-dollar bribes to both presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. His aides, however, never offered the bribes, instead reporting to Hughes that Johnson declined the offer and they were unable to contact Nixon.

In 1971, Jean Peters filed for divorce; the two had not lived together for many years. Peters requested a lifetime alimony payment of US$70,000 a year, adjusted for inflation, and waived all claims to Hughes' estate. Hughes offered her a settlement of over a million dollars, but she declined it. Hughes did not insist upon a confidentiality agreement from Peters as a condition of the divorce; aides reported that Hughes never spoke ill of her. She refused to discuss her life with Hughes and declined several lucrative offers from publishers and biographers. Peters would state only that she had not seen Hughes for several years before their divorce and had only dealt with him by phone.

Hughes was living in the Intercontinental Hotel near Lake Managua in Nicaragua, seeking privacy and security, when a magnitude 6.5 earthquake damaged Managua in December 1972. As a precaution, Hughes moved to the Nicaraguan National Palace and stayed there as a guest of Anastasio Somoza Debayle before leaving for Florida on a private jet the following day. He subsequently moved into the Penthouse at the Xanadu Princess Resort on Grand Bahama Island, which he had recently purchased. He lived almost exclusively in the penthouse of the Xanadu Beach Resort & Marina for the last four years of his life. Hughes had spent a total of US$300 million on his many properties in Las Vegas.

Memoir hoax

In 1972, author Clifford Irving created a media sensation when he claimed to have co-written an authorized autobiography of Hughes. Hughes was such a reclusive figure that he did not immediately publicly refute Irving's statement, leading many people to believe Irving's book was a genuine autobiography. Before the book's publication, however, Hughes finally denounced Irving in a teleconference and the entire project was eventually exposed as a hoax. Irving was later convicted of fraud and spent 17 months in prison. In 1977, ''The Hoax'' by Clifford Irving was published in England; it is the story of these events. The 2007 film ''The Hoax'', starring Richard Gere, is based on these events.

Death

Hughes was reported to have died on April 5, 1976, at 1:27 pm on board an aircraft owned by Robert Graf and piloted by Jeff Abrams, en route from his penthouse at the "Acapulco Fairmont Princess Hotel" in Mexico to The Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. Alternatively, other accounts indicate that he died in the flight from Freeport Grand Bahamas to Houston. His reclusive activities and drug use made him practically unrecognizable; his hair, beard, fingernails, and toenails were long, his tall 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) frame now weighed barely 90 lb (41 kg), and the FBI had to resort to fingerprints to identify the body. Howard Hughes' alias of "John T. Conover" was used upon the arrival of his body at a morgue in Houston on the day of his death. There, his body was received by Dr. Jack Titus.

A subsequent autopsy noted kidney failure as the cause of death. Hughes was in extremely poor physical condition at the time of his death. He suffered from malnutrition. While his kidneys were damaged, his other internal organs, including his brain, were deemed perfectly healthy. X-rays revealed five broken-off hypodermic needles in the flesh of his arms. To inject codeine into his muscles, Hughes used glass syringes with metal needles that easily became detached.

Hughes is buried in the Glenwood Cemetery in Houston, Texas, next to his parents.

Estate

Approximately three weeks after Hughes' death, a handwritten will was found on the desk of an official of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City. The so-called "Mormon Will" gave US$1.56 billion to various charitable organizations (including US$625 million to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute); nearly US$470 million to the upper management in Hughes' companies and to his aides; US$156 million to first cousin William Lummis; and US$156 million split equally between his two ex-wives Ella Rice and Jean Peters.

A further US$156 million was endowed to a gas-station owner named Melvin Dummar. Dummar told reporters that late one evening in December 1967, he found a disheveled and dirty man lying along U.S. Highway 95, north of Las Vegas. The man asked for a ride to Las Vegas. Dropping him off at the Sands Hotel, Dummar said the man told him he was Hughes. Dummar then claimed that days after Hughes's death, a "mysterious man" appeared at his gas station, leaving an envelope containing the will on his desk. Unsure if the will was genuine, and unsure of what to do, Dummar left the will at the LDS Church office. In a trial lasting seven months, the Mormon Will was eventually rejected by the Nevada court in June 1978 as a forgery. The court declared that Hughes had died intestate.

Hughes' US$2.5 billion estate was eventually split in 1983 among 22 cousins, including William Lummis who serves as a trustee of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dummar was largely discounted by the public as a phony and an opportunist. Jonathan Demme's film ''Melvin and Howard'' (starring Jason Robards and Paul Le Mat), was based on Dummar's tale.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Hughes Aircraft was owned by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which sold it to General Motors in 1985 for US$5.2 billion. Suits brought by the states of California and Texas claiming they were owed inheritance tax were both rejected by the court. In 1984, Hughes's estate paid an undisclosed amount to Terry Moore, who claimed to have been secretly married to Hughes on a yacht in international waters off Mexico in 1949 and never divorced. Although Moore never produced proof of a marriage, her book, ''The Beauty and the Billionaire'', became a bestseller.

Awards

Congressional Gold Medal (presented August 7, 1939).

Popular culture

Howard Hughes has now emerged as one of the 20th century's most iconic business and aviation figures spawning a wide range of cultural references.

Motion pictures

Howard Hughes flying boat maiden test run and flight, Parts 1 & 2. [soundrecording] (1947). ,

Willard Whyte, a billionaire from the 1971 James Bond movie, ''Diamonds Are Forever'', is based on Howard Hughes. Hughes, a friend of producer Albert Broccoli, allowed his hotel and casino to be used in the filming.

''The Amazing Howard Hughes'' (1977), directed by William A. Graham. Tommy Lee Jones stars as Howard Hughes.

''Melvin and Howard'' (1980), directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Jason Robards (a distant cousin) as Howard Hughes and Paul Le Mat as Melvin Dummar. The film won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Mary Steenburgen). The film focuses on Melvin Dummar's claims of meeting Hughes in the Nevada desert and subsequent estate battles over his inclusion in Hughes's will. Critic Pauline Kael called the film "an almost flawless act of sympathetic imagination."

Hughes is featured briefly in the 1988 film ''Tucker: The Man and His Dream'', where he is played by Dean Stockwell.

Hughes was portrayed by Terry O'Quinn in Disney's ''The Rocketeer'' (1991), substituting for the "mystery inventor" (Doc Savage) in the original comic book version. In the film, Hughes had designed the rocket for use by soldiers, regretted the project, and declined to manufacture any more rockets. In the first scene with Hughes, he is arguing with two War Department people about his decision.

Before ''The Aviator'' (2004), there were several attempts to create a biopic based on the life of Hughes. For years, director-actor Warren Beatty wanted to play Hughes and direct a big-screen film of the mogul. It was to be released alongside Beatty's film ''Reds'', but due to the lack of the right script, the project was abandoned. In the 1990s, producers with Touchstone Pictures wanted to do it with John Malkovich, Edward Norton, or Johnny Depp as Hughes, but, due to climbing costs, that venture was abandoned. Castle Rock Entertainment also tried to develop a biopic called ''Mr. Hughes'' with Jim Carrey starring and with Christopher Nolan directing and re-writing a script originated by David Koepp and Brian De Palma. When ''The Aviator'' began production, the idea was scrapped, and Nolan went on to direct ''Batman Begins''. Some of the details of Hughes as an adult were confirmed in A. Scott Berg's memoir of Katharine Hepburn (''Kate Remembered'').

''The Aviator'' (2004), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes. Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winning five, the acclaimed film focuses primarily on Hughes' achievements in aviation and in the movies and on the increasing handicaps imposed on him by his obsessive–compulsive behavior, and ends shortly after the successful flight of the Hercules in 1947.

''The Hoax'' (2007), directed by Lasse Hallström. The story depicts events in the life of Clifford Irving, an American novelist who became well known in the early 1970s when his "authorized autobiography" of Howard Hughes was exposed as a hoax.

''Iron Man'', directed by Jon Favreau is an adaptation of a comic book about a wealthy weapons manufacturer, Tony Stark. According to creator Stan Lee, the character's personality and playboy lifestyle were inspired by Hughes, explaining, "Howard Hughes was one of the most colorful men of our time. He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-billionaire, a ladies' man and finally a nutcase".

In the animated movie ''Up'', young Charles Muntz was compared by the director to Hughes.

Literature

Howard Hughes appears as a character in ''Death and Honor'' (Putnam, 2008), W.E.B. Griffin's fictional account of the clandestine espionage activities of agents of the United States Office of Strategic Services (the "OSS") during World War II. In the novel, Hughes is portrayed as an unofficial intelligence community insider.

Howard Hughes also appears in James Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy.

Howard Hughes and his dominion over Las Vegas has a significant role to play in Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice.

Television

''Howard Hughes Documentary'', broadcast in 1992 as an episode of the ''Time Machine'' documentary series, was introduced by Peter Graves, later released by A&E Home Video. ''Howard Hughes: The Real Aviator'' documentary was broadcast in 2004, and went on to win the "Grand Festival Award" for Best Documentary at the 2004 Berkeley Video & Film Festival. ''The American Aviator: The Howard Hughes Story.'' was broadcast in 2006 on the "Biography Channel." It was later released to home media as a DVD with a copy of the full length film ''The Outlaw'' starring Jane Russell.

Video Games

In ''L.A. Noire'', Hughes makes an appearance presenting his Hercules H-4 aircraft in the opening introduction of the game.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

Barkow, Al. ''Gettin' to the Dance Floor: An Oral History of American Golf''. Short Hills, New Jersey: Burford Books, 1986. ISBN 1-58080-043-2.

Barton, Charles. ''Howard Hughes and his Flying Boat''. Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1982. Republished in 1998, Vienna, VA: Charles Barton, Inc. ISBN 0-9663175-0-5.

Barlett, Donald L. and James B. Steele. ''Empire: The Life, Legend and Madness of Howard Hughes''. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1979. ISBN 0-393-07513-3, republished in 2004 as ''Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness''.

Brown, Peter Harry and Pat H. Broeske. ''Howard Hughes: The Untold Story''. New York: Penguin Books, 1996. ISBN 0-525-93785-4.

Burleson, Clyde W. ''The Jennifer Project''. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-89096-764-4.

Dietrich, Noah and Bob Thomas. ''Howard: The Amazing Mr. Hughes''. New York: Fawcett Publications, 1972. ISBN 0-0-44902-565-1.

Drosnin, Michael. ''Citizen Hughes: In his Own Words, How Howard Hughes Tried to Buy America''. Portland, Oregon: Broadway Books, 2004. ISBN 0-76791-934-3.

Hack, Richard. ''Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters: The Definitive Biography of the First American Billionaire''. Beverly Hills, California: New Millennium Press, 2002. ISBN 1-893224-64-3.

Irving, Clifford. ''The Hoax''. New York: E. Reads Ltd., 1999. ISBN 978-0759238688.

Marrett, George J. ''Howard Hughes: Aviator''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2004. ISBN 1-59114-510-4.

Kistler, Ron. ''I Caught Flies for Howard Hughes''. Chicago: Playboy Press, 1976. ISBN 0-87223-447-9.

Lasky, Betty. ''RKO: The Biggest Little Major of Them All, 2d ed'' . Santa Monica, California: Roundtable, 1989. ISBN 0-91567-741-5.

Maheu, Robert and Richard Hack. ''Next to Hughes: Behind the Power and Tragic Downfall of Howard Hughes by his Closest Adviser''. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. ISBN 0-06016-505-7.

Moore, Terry. ''The Beauty and the Billionaire''. New York: Pocket Books, 1984. ISBN 0-67150-080-5.

Moore, Terry and Jerry Rivers. ''The Passions of Howard Hughes''. Los Angeles: General Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 1-88164-988-1.

Phelan, James. ''Howard Hughes: The Hidden Years''. New York, Random House, 1976. ISBN 0-39441-042-4.

Real, Jack. ''The Asylum of Howard Hughes''. Philadelphia: Xlibris Corporation, 2003. ISBN 1-4134-0875-3.

Thomas, Bob. ''Liberace: The True Story''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1987. ISBN 0-312-01469-4.

Tierney, Gene with Mickey Herskowitz. ''Self-Portrait''. New York: Peter Wyden, 1979. lSBN 0-883261-52-9.

Weaver, Tom. ''Science Fiction and Fantasy Film Flashbacks: Conversations with 24 Actors, Writers, Producers and Directors from the Golden Age.'' New York: McFarland & Company, 2004. ISBN 0-78642-070-7.

Additional resources

Photograph collections related to Hughes: Houston Public Library; University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum; Charles Barton, Inc.

External links

AZORIAN The Raising of the K-129 / 2009 – 2 Part TV Documentary / Michael White Films Vienna

Welcome Home Howard: Collection of photographs kept by UNLV

Howard Hughes' Sikorsky at Brazoria County Airport, Texas (See Archives, July, 2009)

Hughes legacy lives on in litigation – Houston Business Journal

1924 passport photo ; Howard Hughes

"Plane Spans U.S. at Four Miles Per Minute" ''Popular Mechanics'', April 1936 main photo of aircraft used in first coast to coast record breaking flight, small photo if of the original H-1.

Category:1905 births Category:1976 deaths Category:American aerospace designers Category:American aerospace engineers Category:American aviators Category:American billionaires Category:American aviation businesspeople Category:American manufacturing businesspeople Category:American film directors Category:American film producers Category:American film studio executives Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:American hoteliers Category:American philanthropists Category:Aviation inventors Category:Businesspeople in aviation Category:California Republicans Category:Collier Trophy recipients Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients Category:Deaths by starvation Category:People who died on aircraft in mid-flight Category:Deaths from renal failure Category:English-language film directors Category:History of Las Vegas, Nevada Category:Hypochondriacs Category:People from Houston, Texas Category:People from Ventura County, California Category:Rice University alumni Category:Texas Republicans Category:Trans World Airlines Category:Watergate figures

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Coordinates	11°14′31″N74°12′19″N
name	Bill Evans
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	William John Evans
born	August 16, 1929Plainfield, New Jersey, United States
died	September 15, 1980Fort Lee, New JerseyUnited States
instrument	Vocals, violin, guitar
born	August 16, 1929
died	September 15, 1980
instrument	Piano
genre	Jazz, modal jazz, third stream, cool jazz, post-bop
occupation	PianistComposerArranger
years active	1950s–1980
label	Riverside, Verve, Fantasy
associated acts	George Russell, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Philly Joe Jones, Scott LaFaro, Paul Motian, Eddie Gomez, Marty Morell, Tony Bennett, Jim Hall
notable instruments	}}

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans (August 16, 1929–September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John Taylor, Steve Kuhn, Don Friedman, Marian McPartland, Denny Zeitlin, Bobo Stenson, Warren Bernhardt, Michel Petrucciani and Keith Jarrett, as well as many other musicians world-wide. The music of Bill Evans continues to inspire younger pianists like Fred Hersch, Bill Charlap, Lyle Mays, Eliane Elias and arguably Brad Mehldau, early in his career. He is considered by some to be the most influential post-World War II jazz pianist.

Evans is an inductee of the ''Down Beat'' Jazz Hall of Fame.

Biography

Early life

Bill Evans was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States, to a mother of Rusyn ancestry and a father of Welsh descent. He received his first musical training at his mother's church. Evans's mother was an amateur pianist with an interest in modern classical composers, and Evans began classical piano lessons at age six. He also became a proficient flutist by age 13 and could play the violin.

At age 12, Evans filled in for his older brother Harry in Buddy Valentino's band. At this age he was able to interpret classical music, but he couldn't improvise. In the beginning, he played exactly what was written in the sheet, but soon started trying to improvise, while learning about harmonies in the songs and how to alter them. Meanwhile, he was playing dance music (and jazz) at home. In the late 1940s, Evans played boogie woogie in various New York City clubs. He attended Southeastern Louisiana University on a music scholarship, and in 1950 performed Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto on his senior recital there, graduating with a degree in piano performance and teaching. He was also among the founding members of SLU's Delta Omega Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, and played quarterback for the fraternity's football team, helping them win the school's 1949 intramural tournament.

Evans's first professional job was with sax player Herbie Fields's band, based in Chicago. During the summer of 1950, the band did a three-month tour backing Billie Holiday, including East Coast appearances at Harlem's Apollo Theater and shows in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and at Washington D.C.'s Howard Theater. In addition to Fields and Evans, the band included trumpeter Jimmy Nottingham, trombonist Frank Rosolino and bassist Jim Aton. Upon its return to Chicago, Evans and Aton worked as a duo in Chicago clubs, often backing singer Lurlean Hunter. Shortly thereafter, Evans received his draft notice and entered the U.S. Army.

After his army service, Evans returned to New York and worked at nightclubs with jazz clarinetist Tony Scott and other leading players. Later, he took postgraduate studies in composition at the Mannes College of Music, where he also mentored younger music students.

1950s

Working in New York in the 1950s, Evans gained recognition as a sideman in traditional and so-called Third Stream jazz groups. During this period he had the opportunity to record in many different contexts with some of the best jazz musicians of the time. Seminal recordings made with composer/theoretician George Russell, including "Concerto for Billy the Kid" and "All About Rosie", are notable for Evans's solo work. Evans also appeared on notable albums by Charles Mingus, Oliver Nelson, Tony Scott, and Art Farmer. In 1956, he made his debut album, ''New Jazz Conceptions'', featuring the original version of "Waltz for Debby", for Riverside Records. Producer Orrin Keepnews was convinced to record the reluctant Evans by a demo tape guitarist Mundell Lowe played to him over the phone.

In 1958, Evans was hired by Miles Davis, becoming the only white member of Davis's famed sextet. Though his time with the band was brief (no more than eight months), it was one of the most fruitful collaborations in the history of jazz, as Evans's introspective scalar approach to improvisation deeply influenced Davis's style. Davis wrote in his autobiography, "Bill had this quiet fire that I loved on piano. The way he approached it, the sound he got, was like crystal notes or sparkling water cascading down from some clear waterfall." Additionally, Davis said, "I've sure learned a lot from Bill Evans. He plays the piano the way it should be played."

Evans's desire to pursue his own projects as a leader (and increasing problems with drug use) led him to leave the Davis sextet in late 1958. Shortly after, he recorded ''Everybody Digs Bill Evans'', documenting the wholly original meditative sound he was exploring at the time. But Evans came back to the sextet at Davis's request to record the jazz classic ''Kind of Blue'' in early 1959. Evans's contribution to the album was overlooked for years; in addition to cowriting the song "Blue in Green", he had also already developed the ostinato figure from the track "Flamenco Sketches" on the 1958 solo recording "Peace Piece" from his album ''Everybody Digs Bill Evans''. Evans also penned the heralded liner notes for ''Kind of Blue'' comparing jazz improvisation to Japanese visual art. By the fall of 1959, he had started his own trio.

1960s

At the turn of the decade, Evans led a trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. This group was to become one of the most acclaimed piano trios — and jazz bands in general — of all time. With this group, Evans's focus settled on traditional jazz standards and original compositions, with an added emphasis on interplay among the band members that often bordered on collective improvisation, blurring the line between soloist and accompanist. The collaboration between Evans and the young LaFaro was particularly fruitful, as the two achieved a remarkable level of musical empathy. The trio recorded four albums: ''Portrait in Jazz'' (1959); and ''Explorations'', ''Sunday at the Village Vanguard'', and ''Waltz for Debby,'' all recorded in 1961. The last two albums are live recordings from the same recording date, and are routinely named among the greatest jazz recordings of all time. In 2005, the full sets were collected on the three-CD set ''The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961''. There is also a lesser-known recording of this trio, ''Live at Birdland'', taken from radio broadcasts in early 1960, though the sound quality is poor.

In addition to introducing a new freedom of interplay within the piano trio, Evans began (in performances such as "My Foolish Heart" from the Vanguard sessions) to explore extremely slow ballad tempos and quiet volume levels, which had been virtually unknown in jazz. His chordal voicings became more impressionistic, reminiscent of classical composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Scriabin, and Satie, and he moved away from the thick block chords he had often used with Davis. His sparse left-hand voicings supported his lyrical right-hand lines, reflecting the influence of jazz pianist Bud Powell.

Like Davis, Evans was a pioneer of modal jazz, favoring harmonies that helped avoid some of the idioms of bebop and other earlier jazz. In tunes like ''Time Remembered'', the chord changes more or less absorbed the derivative styles of bebop and instead relied on unexpected shifts in color. It was still possible (and desirable) to make these changes swing, and a certain spontaneity appeared in expert solos that were played over the new sound. Most composers refer to the style of ''Time Remembered'' as "plateau modal," because of its frequent juxtaposition of harmony.

LaFaro's death at age 25 in a car accident, ten days after the Vanguard performances, devastated Evans. He did not record or perform in public again for several months. His first recording after LaFaro's death was the duet album ''Undercurrent'', with guitarist Jim Hall, released on United Artist Jazz records in 1963. Recorded in two sessions on April 24 and May 14, 1962, it is now widely regarded as a classic jazz piano-guitar duet recording. The album is also notable for its striking cover image, "Weeki Wachee Spring, Florida" by photographer Toni Frissell. The original LP and the first CD reissue featured a cropped, blue-tinted version, overlaid with the title and the Blue Note logo; but for the most recent (24-bit remastered) CD reissue, the image has been restored to its original black-and-white coloration and size, without lettering.

When he re-formed his trio in 1962, Evans replaced LaFaro with bassist Chuck Israels, initially keeping Motian on the drums. Two albums, ''Moon Beams'' and ''How My Heart Sings!'', resulted. In 1963, after having switched from Riverside to the much more widely distributed Verve, he recorded ''Conversations With Myself'', an innovative album on which he employed overdubbing, layering up to three individual tracks of piano for each song. The album won him his first Grammy award, for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance — Soloist or Small Group.

Though his time with Verve was prolific in terms of recording, his artistic output was uneven. Despite Israels's fast development and the creativity of new drummer Grady Tate, they were ill-represented by the rather perfunctory album ''Bill Evans Trio with Symphony Orchestra'', with the piece ''Pavane'' by Gabriel Fauré remarkably reinvented with improvisations by Evans. Some unique contexts were attempted, such as a big-band live album at Town Hall, recorded but never issued due to Evans's dissatisfaction with it (although the jazz trio portion of the Pavane concert was made into its own somewhat successful release), and an album with a symphony orchestra, not warmly received by critics.

During this time, Helen Keane, Evans's manager, began having an important influence. One of the first women in her field, she significantly helped to maintain the progress (or prevent the deterioration) of Evans's career in spite of his self-destructive lifestyle.

In 1966, Evans discovered the remarkable young Puerto Rican bass player Eddie Gomez. In what turned out to be an eleven-year stay, the sensitive and creative Gomez sparked new developments in both Evans's playing and his trio conception. One of the most significant releases during this period is ''Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival'', from 1968. Although it was the only album Evans made with drummer Jack DeJohnette, it has remained a critical and fan favorite, due to the trio's remarkable energy and interplay.

Other highlights from this period include "Solo — In Memory of His Father" from ''Bill Evans at Town Hall'' (1966), which introduced the famous theme "Turn Out the Stars," a second successful pairing with guitarist Jim Hall; ''Intermodulation'' (1966); and the subdued, crystalline solo album ''Alone'' (1968), featuring a 14-minute-plus version of "Never Let Me Go".

1970s

In 1968, Marty Morell joined the trio on drums and remained until 1975, when he retired to family life. This was Evans's most stable, longest-lasting group. Evans had kicked his heroin habit and was entering a period of personal stability as well. The group made several albums, including ''From Left to Right'' (1970), which features Evans's first use of electric piano; ''The Bill Evans Album'' (1971), which won two Grammies; ''The Tokyo Concert'' (1973); ''Since We Met'' (1974); and ''But Beautiful'' (1974), featuring the trio plus legendary tenor saxophonist Stan Getz in live performances from Holland and Belgium, released posthumously in 1996. Morell was an energetic, straight-ahead drummer, unlike many of the trio's former percussionists, and many critics feel that this was a period of little growth for Evans. After Morell left, Evans and Gomez recorded two duo albums, ''Intuition'' and ''Montreux III''.

In 1974, Bill Evans recorded a multimovement jazz concerto specifically written for him by Claus Ogerman entitled ''Symbiosis'', originally released on the MPS Records label. The 1970s also saw Evans collaborate with the singer Tony Bennett on 1975's ''The Tony Bennett/Bill Evans Album'' and 1977's ''Together Again''.

On September 13, 1975, Evans's son, Evan, was born. Evan Evans did not often see his always-touring father. A child prodigy, he embarked on a career in film scoring, ambitiously attending college courses in 20th-century composition, instrumentation, and electronic composition at the age of ten. He also studied with many of his father's contemporaries, including Lalo Schifrin and harmony specialist Bernard Maury.

In 1976, Marty Morell was replaced on drums by Eliot Zigmund. Several interesting collaborations followed, and it was not until 1977 that the trio was able to record an album together. Both ''I Will Say Goodbye'' (Evans's last album for Fantasy Records) and ''You Must Believe in Spring'' (for Warner Bros., released posthumously) highlighted changes that would become significant in the last stage of Evans's career. A greater emphasis was placed on group improvisation and interaction, Evans was reaching new expressive heights in his soloing, and new experiments with harmony and keys were attempted.

Gomez and Zigmund left Evans in 1978. Evans then asked Philly Joe Jones, the drummer he considered his "all-time favorite drummer" and with whom he had recorded his second album in 1957, to fill in. Several bassists were tried, with the remarkable Michael Moore staying the longest. Evans finally settled on Marc Johnson on bass and Joe LaBarbera on drums. This trio was Evans's last. Although they released only one record before Evans's death in 1980 (''The Paris Concert,'' Edition One and Edition Two, 1979), they rivaled (and arguably exceeded) the first trio in their powerful group interactions. Evans stated that this was possibly his best trio, a claim supported by the many recordings that have since surfaced, each documenting the remarkable musical journey of his final year. The Debussy like impressionism of the first trio had given way to a dark and urgent yet undeniably compelling, deeply moving (if not mesmerizing) romantic expressionism.

Evans's Rusyn ancestry is sometimes confused with a "Russian" ethnic background. His music reflects Russian titans like the Rachmaninoffesque pianism of his brooding constructions and the Shostakovich-like "Danse Macabre" modal explorations of "Nardis", the piece he reworked each time it served as the finale of his performances. But the "anticipatory meter" that Evans deliberately perfected with his last trio reflects late Ravel, especially the controversial second half of the French composer's dark and turbulent ''La Valse''. The recording documenting Evans's playing during the week preceding his death is the valedictory "The Last Waltz." Many albums and compilations have been released in recent years, including three multidisc boxed sets: ''Turn Out the Stars'' (Warner Bros.), ''The Last Waltz'', and ''Consecration''. The Warner Bros. set is a selection of material from Evans's final residency at New York's Village Vanguard club, nearly two decades after his classic performances there with the La Faro/Motian trio; the other two are drawn from his performances at San Francisco's Keystone Korner the week before his death. A particularly revealing comparison of early and late Evans (1966, 1980) is a 2007 DVD of two previously unreleased telecasts, ''The Oslo Concerts''.

Death

Evans's drug addiction most likely began during his stint with Miles Davis in the late 1950s. A heroin addict for much of his career, his health was generally poor, and his financial situation worse, for most of the 1960s. By the end of that decade, he appeared to have succeeded in overcoming his addiction to heroin. However, during the 1970s, cocaine use became a serious and ultimately fatal problem for Evans. His body finally gave out in September 1980, when — ravaged by psychoactive drugs, a perforated liver, and a lifelong battle with hepatitis — he died in New York City of a bleeding ulcer, cirrhosis of the liver, and bronchial pneumonia. Evans's friend Gene Lees bleakly summarized Evans's struggle with drugs to Peter Pettinger as "the longest suicide in history". At the time of his death, Evans was residing with his partner Laurie Verchomin, in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Bill Evans is buried at Roselawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum, Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana (Section #161, Plot K), next to his brother Harry Evans, who died the previous year. The inscription reads, "William John Evans; August 16, 1929; September 15, 1980".

Legacy

As music critic Richard S. Ginell noted, “With the passage of time, Bill Evans has become an entire school unto himself for pianists and a singular mood unto himself for listeners. There is no more influential jazz-oriented pianist – only McCoy Tyner exerts nearly as much pull among younger players and journeymen – and Evans has left his mark on such noted players as Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Brad Mehldau.” Bill Evans's musicianship has been a model for many pianists in various genres. His music displayed a creative mastery of harmony, rhythm, and interpretive jazz conception, fusing elements from jazz, classical, and ethnic music. In his duos and trios, Evans developed in unprecedented ways a unique conception of ensemble performance and a classical sense of form and conceptual scale. His '60s recordings ''Conversations with Myself'' and ''Further Conversations with Myself'' were innovative solo performances involving multiple layers of overdubs recorded in the studio by Evans himself.

Evans's work continues to influence pianists, guitarists, composers, and interpreters of jazz music around the world. Many of his tunes, such as "Waltz for Debby", "Turn Out the Stars," "Very Early," and "Funkallero," have become often-recorded jazz standards. Many tribute recordings featuring his compositions and favorite tunes have been released in the years following his passing (see below) as well as tribute compositions. Pat Metheny's "September 15th" is one such recording. During his lifetime, Evans was honored with 31 Grammy nominations and seven Awards. In 1994, he was posthumously honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Tribute albums

1981: ''Elegy For Bill Evans'' by Richie Beirach

1986: ''Music of Bill Evans'' by the Kronos Quartet with Eddie Gomez and Jim Hall.

1990: ''Bill Evans'' by Paul Motian

1991: ''Bill Evans: A Tribute'' by Jimmy Rowles, McCoy Tyner, Herbie Hancock, John Lewis, and Dave McKenna (Palo Alto Records)

1992: ''Then Along Came Bill: A Tribute to Bill Evans'' by Sylvia Syms

1993: ''Time Remembered: John Mclaughlin Plays Bill Evans'' by John Mclaughlin

1994: ''Now & Then: A Tribute to Bill Evans'' by Mitchel Forman

1994: ''Your Story: The Music of Bill Evans'' by Howard Alden

1996: ''Turn Out The Stars - The Songs Of Bill Evans'' by Dominic Alldis

1997: ''Conversations with Bill Evans'' by Jean-Yves Thibaudet

1998: ''Evanessence: Tribute to Bill Evans'' by Fred Hersch

1998: ''I Remember Bill: A Tribute to Bill Evans'' by Don Sebesky and Larry Coryell

2000: ''Conviction: Thoughts Of Bill Evans'' by Roseanna Vitro

2000: ''Remembering Bill Evans - A Vocal Tribute'' by Karen Gallinger

2002: ''Homage To Bill Evans And Jim Hall'' by Luigi Tessarollo with Stefano Bollani

2002: ''Play Bill Evans'' by The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra & Jim McNeely

2003: ''Bill Evans: Tribute to the Great Post-Bop Pianist'' by Paul Motian

2006: ''Paz - Niño Josele and the music of Bill Evans'' by Niño Josele

2006: ''Remembering the Rain: The Music of Bill Evans'' by Stephen D. Anderson

2007: ''Playsong - The Music Of Bill Evans'' by Hilde Hefte

2008: ''Bill Evans Project'' by Riccardo Fioravanti Trio

2008: ''Something for you - Eliane Elias Sings and Plays Bill Evans'' by Eliane Elias

2008: ''We Sing Bill Evans'' by Joan Diaz Trio

2009: ''Bill Evans Compositions Vol. 1 & Vol. 2'' by Stefano Battaglia

Discography

References

Further reading

* *

External links

billevans.net Detailed Discography

Bill Evans entry — Jazz Discography Project

The Bill Evans Webpages

Bill Evans: Time Remembered

The Work of Claus Ogerman — Bill Evans' work with composer/arranger/conductor Claus Ogerman is documented here in a pictorial discography of original albums and compilations, many with explanatory liner notes.

"Remembering Bill Evans" by Ted Gioia, Jazz.com, January, 2008.

Letter From Evans edited by Win Hinkle — newsletter dedicated solely to the music and the life of Bill Evans, published 1989–94. Link is to all issues.

"Bill Evans: Twelve Essential Recordings by Ted Gioia"

Bill Evans A Complete Blog Discography Project

The Bill Evans Memorial Library

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