A TASTE OF HEAVEN is a feature-length documentary about the electrifying Gospel Genius of New Orleans.
Written, produced and directed by Grammy Award-winning producer Leo Sacks, who was a first-hand witness to Raymond’s trials and triumphs.
Recipient of a 2022 Lavine Fellowship from the Better Angels Society/Library of Congress/Ken Burns Prize For Film.
Now in post-production and seeking finishing funds.
As profiled in The New York Times
Photo by Syndey Byrd
Like a comet shooting across the sky, Raymond Anthony Myles was here one minute — brilliant, incandescent and unmistakably unique.
And then, just as quickly, he was gone.
An unsung contributor to community and culture in New Orleans, Raymond amplified the voice of everyday, unseen Black America.
Synopsis
Raymond Myles was blessed with a voice of astonishing power. He had a showman’s personality to rival Liberace’s. He was a brilliant pianist and choir director. Some looked at his wild stagecraft and saw the second coming of Little Richard. Others saw a messenger, a prophet and a healer.
One thing was certain: if you heard Raymond once, you remembered him forever.
His short, turbulent life was a complex and colorful journey, propelled by outsized talent and fierce ambition, burdened by prejudice and deeply rooted in the vibrant community that shaped him.
The pandemic and protests after the murder of George Floyd have made clear the sharp differences of our two Americas. Raymond was a musical bridge between these worlds.
A TASTE OF HEAVEN has received five Community Partnership Grants from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.
Strategic Partners
“There’s no telling what he might have achieved,” says the New Orleans patriarch Allen Toussaint. “After all, this was Raymond.”
A Message of Hope
Throughout the 80s and 90s, Raymond Myles was a highly visible representative of a vital but scorned minority within the Baptist Church: a queer man who loved God.
By lifting the veil on the cultural norms of the Black, religious and queer communities, A TASTE OF HEAVEN asks: What is spirituality? Who decides what is moral and what is not? What makes a person good or bad?
Powered by eye-popping footage of Raymond’s electrifying performances, A TASTE OF HEAVEN shows how intolerance and homophobia affected Raymond’s life.
Raymond’s triumph and tragedy lay in his failure to grasp his goal just when it was within his reach, and just before he might have won the acceptance he craved as an artist and a man.
Had he lived, who knows where his journey might have taken him. With its thrilling combination of soul-stirring gospel music and fresh perspective on culture, spirituality and religion, A TASTE OF HEAVEN takes us down those untraveled roads.
The Book of Raymond
Writer, Producer and Director Leo Sacks was on assignment for Billboard magazine when he first heard Raymond in the Gospel Tent at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1982. He was completely unprepared for what he experienced as a skeptical New York journalist.
“Raymond seemed to have something very much like healing powers,” he says. “His message of compassion and tolerance was charged with the most stirring and soulful music I had ever heard.”
Ten years later, when no one else would, Leo produced A Taste of Heaven, Raymond’s first and only full-length studio album of original material.
“Raymond poured his heart and soul into the project,” he says. “But the gatekeepers in the mainstream gospel music industry refused to acknowledge Raymond as a marketable artist.
They said the perception that he was gay would alienate their evangelical base.
To Raymond, the notion that his sexuality might actually alter his destiny was unthinkable. Unfathomable. The burden, as his producer, fell upon my shoulders to break this heartbreaking news.
“If I’m a Christian,” he demanded, “doesn’t that make me a child of God, too?”
Then he grew defiant. “Don’t they know I’m talented?”
The title of Raymond’s album became clearer after his shocking murder.
“Call it the intuition of man whose genius was always in touch with the higher spirit,” Leo says.
Completed Interviews
A TASTE OF HEAVEN features:
Raymond’s family members, close friends, confidants, and the musicians and singers who shared his dreams.
Choir directors, music ministers, spiritual and religious leaders who knew Raymond’s heart.
The ambassadors of New Orleans music and cultural tastemakers who were Raymond’s most fervent fans.
Educators and civic leaders who recognized Raymond’s commitment to education as a means of personal empowerment and a path out of poverty.
Target Audiences
Fans of modern and traditional gospel, blues, soul, R&B, hip-hop, country, Americana and folk music.
The LGBTQIA+ community.
Spiritual and religious communities.
Teachers and guidance counselors who will facilitate classroom conversations about gender equality, tolerance and bullying.
The faithful from around the world who make the pilgrimage to the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
Media
The New York Times:
“Complicated Legacy of a Gospel Singer”
HuffPost:
“Raymond Myles And The Rocky Road To Redemption”
Hollywood Reporter:
"Ex-Billboard Writer Undertakes Labor of Love for New Orleans' Gay Gospel Legend Raymond Myles"
The Baltimore Sun:
"No Mistaking Raymond Myles' Gospel Style and His Lifestyle"
Raves For Raymond
Peggy Scott Laborde, senior producer of WYES-TV, the PBS station in New Orleans:
“I am very impressed with the list of people you have interviewed, along with your research. Raymond's death was truly a loss to our community and the world.”
Sundance Channel:
“This project is well aligned with our programming sensibility and dedication to independent spirit, diversity and social issues.”
Bethany Bultman, director of The New Orleans Musicians’ Health Clinic:
“Artful storytelling. Insightful and empowering. Perpetuating Raymond's story is absolutely vital to our own mission.”
Ben Jaffe of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band:
"What a project, so many layers. And Lord knows, we can’t let Raymond’s spirit or message die. It’s just too important.”
More Raves For Raymond
Billboard:
“The masses should be made aware of what New Orleans has known for years. Raymond Anthony Myles is a major talent for the national stage.”
Harry Connick Jr.:
“Raymond was one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever known.”
Harry Shearer:
“A loving, appreciative and revelatory film.”
Allen Toussaint:
“There’s no telling what Raymond might have done.”
David Fricke, Rolling Stone:
“A powerful and difficult story. Uplifting, joyful, amazing and then breathtaking in its sorrow.”
Marshall Crenshaw:
“An artful film. Raymond is amazing.”
Promoting Raymond’s Music
The soundtrack to the documentary features many songs from Raymond’s only full-length studio album, which was also called A TASTE OF HEAVEN.
The album has been commercially unavailable for many years but it will be marketed anew with the release of the documentary.
Since the album was first released in 1994, almost every song has become a standard on gospel and R&B radio in New Orleans.
These include “Elijah Rock,” “Be On Fire,” “Someday We’ll All Be Free,” “Wake Up Everybody,” “Border Song (Holy Moses),” “Put A Little Love In Your Heart,” “What A Fellowship” and “Precious Lord (Dedicated to Christine Myles).”
“Its glories runneth over,” David Fricke wrote in Rolling Stone.
“Instant chills...earth-moving power...devastating calls to faith...affirmations of what's good in the world,” the Philadelphia Inquirer said.
“A high-octane blend of spirituality spiked with torrid pop, soul, funk, fun and pure gut emotion worn ostentatiously on Raymond’s stylish sleeve,” The Hartford Courant raved.
There was also high praise from Billboard. “The masses should be made aware of what New Orleans has known for years. Raymond Anthony Myles is a major talent worthy of a national stage.”
An intimate piano-vocal performance called RAYMOND MYLES: LIVE IN NEW YORK will also be released.
The album was recorded at a showcase for Sony Music executives in 1995, is previously unreleased.
Performances on the live album include “Everything Must Change,” “Elijah Rock,” “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” “Border Song (Holy Moses)” and “Jesus Is The Best Thing (That Ever Happened To Me).”
Both A TASTE OF HEAVEN and LIVE IN NEW YORK will be issued on vinyl and promoted on streaming services.
About Leo Sacks
Leo Sacks is a musical storyteller.
He received a historical Grammy Award in 2014 for compiling and producing Bill Withers: The Complete Sussex & Columbia Albums. “We’re all in good hands with Leo,” Bill Withers said.
Leo has also worked to preserve the legacies of Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind & Fire, Luther Vandross, the Isley Brothers and the Philly soul giants Gamble and Huff, among many others, and introduce them to a new generation.
As a writer and broadcast producer for NBC Nightly News, he worked closely with the anchors Tom Brokaw, Brian Williams and Lester Holt.
During the 80s and 90s, he wrote for Billboard, People, Village Voice, CNN and The New York Times Book Review.
As a songwriter, he collaborated with the legendary Tower of Power on the title track of their 50th anniversary LP, Soul Side of Town. The album went to Number One on the Billboard Jazz charts in 2018.
Most of all, Leo has a deep and abiding love for the music and culture of New Orleans.
He produced Redemption by Glen David Andrews and was named Producer of the Year by Offbeat magazine in 2015. Offbeat also recognized Redemption as the year’s best album by an artist from Louisiana.
And when the levees failed after Katrina and the Crescent City’s greatest artists were scattered to the winds, he organized the New Orleans Social Club and produced a unique benefit CD called Sing Me Back Home.
He currently teaches at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information in New Brunswick, N.J.
Documentary Production Team
Cinematographer
John Pirozzi is the director of Don't Think I've Forgotten: Cambodia's Lost Rock and Roll -- one of 2014’s most critically acclaimed documentaries, about the musical culture that survived the Khmer Rouge.
The New York Times review of Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten
He recently filmed Matt Dillon's new feature documentary El Gran Fellove (The Great Fellove) which chronicles the career of the irrepressible Cuban scat singer and showman. His work has been shown at the Cannes, Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Toronto film festivals.
Consulting Producer
Lynell George writes about her native Los Angeles. She spent many years as a feature writer for the Los Angeles Times and L.A. Weekly, focusing on social issues, human behavior, race and identity politics, as well as visual arts, music and literature.
Music Consultant
Brian Chin is one of modern music’s most influential consultants and tastemakers. His critical essays for the Village Voice, and columns for Billboard and Record World, in the 1980s documented the global DJ movement and the evolution of its subculture into the contemporary mainstream.
Since then, he has become a key strategist for just about every prominent label and artist management team -- the consummate "artist whisperer" who can recommend the right song for any moment or situation.
Co-Producer & Editor
Charnelle (Cha) Quallis is a documentary film editor and participant in the 2019 Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship Diversity Program. She has worked on several PBS Frontline documentaries, including The Gang Crackdown, which won a duPont–Columbia Gold Baton Award in 2019.
She was an editor, most recently, on Stanley Nelson’s Crack: Cocaine, Corruption, Conspiracy and Boss: The Black Experience in Business, which won the 2019 Programmer’s Award at the Pan African Film Festival.
Producers
Richard Gold is an accomplished broadcast producer and writer, with extensive national television experience. He has produced and written biographical documentaries and in-depth news magazine features on a variety of subjects for MSNBC, CNN, Inside Edition and other outlets.
Prior to entering television, Richard spent 10 years at Variety as a staff writer and reporter, special foreign correspondent, and film and music critic. He is currently an adjunct professor of English at Pace University in New York.
Verdine White is a founding member of Earth, Wind & Fire. He has been the group's heart and soul for more than 40 years. White is ranked among Bass Player magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Bass Players of All Time.
With his brother Maurice, White turned singalong melodies into joyful, hopeful music that radicalized black pop music. His sensitivity to African, Cuban, Caribbean and Latin influences, and other cross-cultural synergies, has made him a towering contributor to African-American music and culture, and profoundly influential in America's social history.
His Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the Grammys and BET, and his induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, only suggests the scope of his artistic and commercial influence as an alchemist and innovator.
Producer
Drew Carolan is a documentary filmmaker in Los Angeles. He was executive producer of Chloe Webb's Surfing Thru, which debuted at Cannes in 2007. He was line producer of David LaChapelle's Rize, which won Best Documentary at the 2006 Bangkok International Festival. He was also the co‐producer of LaChapelle's Krumped, which received an honorable mention at Sundance in 2004. He served as associate producer of Hooked: The Legend of Demetrius Hook Mitchell, which premiered at Tribeca in 2003 and won top honors that year at the San Francisco Black Filmmakers Festival.
He also has a long history as a music video director and producer, creating videos for Red Hot Chili Peppers, B-52’s, Living Colour and Ziggy Marley; and producing and directing Madonna's PSA campaign "You Can't Tell By Looking" for the non-profit organization Musicians For Life.
Production Company
Making Groceries Music & Filmworks LLC is registered in Louisiana.
Archival Consultants
The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation
The New Orleans Jazz Museum
The William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz, at Tulane University.
The Historic New Orleans Collection.
The Estates of photojournalists David Gahr. and Sydney Byrd.
Executive Producers
John Caulkins, Cyril E. Vetter, Verdine White, Danny Melnick and Harry Shearer & Judith Owen.
“The Son of The Sun: For Raymond Myles”
by Nikki Giovanni
If one day the Sun decided not to set but to fall, wouldn’t it break? Wouldn’t it splinter into billions and millions of pieces? And all that glitter would wash into the earth. Some pieces would go way into the ground. And it probably would be billions and millions of years before anyone found them. Being human and unable to know what had been discovered we would probably just call it “Gold” and trade it for lesser things. But it would be the only piece of the Sun that we could hold in our hands to comfort and intrigue us.
But what would happen if, for example, someone had planted a carrot or a lovely sweet yellow squash or a wonderfully golden yam and when that fruit of the earth blossomed some youngster from New Orleans being made by his mother to “eat his vegetables” also swallowed a piece of the Sun and when he opened his mouth notes sparkled from him. You can imagine the delight. This little five-year-old boy singing like an angel from the Sun.
This young man was so comfortable in his voice; so at home with the Delight, the Love, the Faith and Commitment; so mischievously playful with this voice. As if it was a friend and not his own. Other cities might have missed Raymond but New Orleans has a history with extraordinary musicians. New Orleans knew this son of the Sun being well acquainted with genius beginning with the drummers in Congo Square to the trumpet of Louis Armstrong to the Neville Brothers and the Marsalis family. New Orleans knows her sons. What a shame that the Sun took back that which it gave. Raymond had to go to his Heavenly home before the rest of us got to know him.
Raymond released his energy to the New Orleans sky at the street corner of Elysian Fields Avenue and Chartres Street. Holy Ground. There should be a plaque there so that other children of the sun can come to know an angel left us at this spot... There should be something to memorialize the dreams Raymond Myles had for his people... some sort of honor guard to tell us to keep pushing... keep searching... keep looking... for A Taste of Heaven.
Originally published in Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems (William Morrow, 2002).
Charitable Goals
The filmmakers are committed to establishing a music scholarship in Raymond’s name in the New Orleans public school system; and generating revenue streams for socially conscious, not-for-profit organizations like the New Orleans Musicians’ Assistance Foundation; WWOZ-FM New Orleans; the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation; and the Southern Poverty Law Center.