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.
Raymond was an inspiration to anyone with a voice, a vision and a determination to sing. 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.
A TASTE OF HEAVEN features new interviews with the ambassadors of New Orleans music, including Big Freedia, Cyril Neville, Allen Toussaint, Wardell Quezergue, Quint Davis, Harry Shearer, Judith Owen, Father Tony Richard, the choir directors Veronica Downs-Dorsey and Clyde Lawrence and members of the Raymond Myles Singers.
So much of the heritage of New Orleans was destroyed when the levees failed in New Orleans. A TASTE OF HEAVEN is part of the restoration and resurrection of that history.
A TASTE OF HEAVEN is written and directed by Grammy Award-winning producer Leo Sacks, who was a first-hand witness to Raymond’s trials and triumphs.
Now in post-production and seeking finishing funds.
Recipient of a 2022 fellowship from the Better Angels Society/Library of Congress/Ken Burns Prize For Film.
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.
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 countless young people 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.
Propelled by eye-popping archival footage of Raymond’s electrifying performances, the documentary captures the social and cultural energy of New Orleans in the Eighties and Nineties.
A TASTE OF HEAVEN is a time capsule of the faces and the fashions from the period, driven by the joyous, uplifting, here-and-now spirit of gospel music.
“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).
A TASTE OF HEAVEN has received 5 Community Partnership Grants from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation.
Raymond Myles amplified the voice of everyday people.
Had he lived, who knows where his journey might have taken him.
A TASTE OF HEAVEN takes us down those untraveled roads.
Contact: Leo Sacks leosaxe@earthlink.net
