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 Myles 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, fierce ambition and deeply rooted in the vibrant community that shaped him.
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 is seeking finishing funds to complete production.
The film has received a 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
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 captures the social and cultural energy of New Orleans in the Eighties and Nineties.
It’s a time capsule of the faces and fashions from the period, driven by the joyous, uplifting, here-and-now spirit of gospel music and propelled by eye-popping footage of Raymond’s unforgettable performances.
“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
Leo Sacks is a Grammy-winning producer who has burnished the musical legacies of such artists as Bill Withers, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Earth, Wind & Fire, Luther Vandross, the Isley Brothers and the Philly soul composers Gamble & Huff, and also introduced them to a new generation.
He has been a journalist at the highest echelon of mass media (People, Billboard, The New York Times Book Review, CNN, CBS News, the Village Voice and NBC Nightly News).
He teaches at Rutgers University’s School of Communication & Information in New Brunswick, NJ.
