A TASTE OF HEAVEN

A TASTE OF HEAVEN: The Ecstatic Song & Gospel of Maestro Raymond Anthony Myles explores the life and legacy of the electrifying Gospel Genius of New Orleans.

His all-too-brief lifetime was a complex and colorful journey, powered by outsized talent and fierce ambition, burdened by entitlement and deeply rooted in the vibrant community that shaped him.

*Now in post-production and seeking finishing funds.

*Recipient of a fellowship from the Better Angels Society/Library of Congress/Ken Burns Prize For Film.

*Written and directed by Grammy Award-winning producer Leo Sacks, who was a first-hand witness to Raymond’s trials and triumphs.

*Featuring the New Orleans music ambassadors Allen Toussaint, Big Freedia, Mahalia Jackson, Cyril Neville, Quint Davis, Veronica Downs-Dorsey, Clyde Lawrence, Harry Shearer and Judith Owen, Father Tony Richard and members of the Raymond Myles Singers.

As profiled in The New York Times.

Photo by Syndey Byrd

Like a comet shooting across the sky, Raymond was here one minute — brilliant, incandescent and unmistakably unique.

And then, just as quickly, he was gone.

A TASTE OF HEAVEN lifts the veil on the cultural norms of the Black, religious and queer communities to explore Raymond's poignant battle against prejudice, intolerance and homophobia.

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A TASTE OF HEAVEN takes us on Raymond’s dramatic journey from the everyday violence of the St. Bernard housing projects; to the public schools where he steered his students away from gangs, drugs and ruined lives; to the Southern churches where he mesmerized the faithful; and finally to the world’s biggest concert stages -- until his shocking murder, on the cusp of music stardom.

“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).