As a Dayton native, she was steeped in the funk scene of the time. In high school, LaFrae and her friends would drive up I-75 to Detroit to dance in the clubs during the birth of techno. She hung out in what she calls the “sanctified zones of innovation,” where Black sounds met electronics. She marched in the band at Carroll High School and played the drum set for Beavercreek’s show choir. She graduated from Oberlin College with a degree in political theory, economics and music composition.
After absorbing all she could, LaFrae left for New York to commit fully to music.
“When I got to New York, people loved my pocket,” she said, referring to her drum grooves with exceptional timing. In New York, LaFrae worked with jazz, hip-hop and rock acts, touring internationally with major-label artists. She slept on amps in the back of tour vans, and toured 40 countries for the State Department.
Her resume spans genres and decades. Among her collaborators: Irene Cara, Cyndi Lauper, Bumblefoot, Burnt Sugar and Nancy Sinatra. LaFrae also formed her own band, The 13th Amendment?, which fuses social commentary with jazz.
Eventually, LaFrae auditioned for the role of Beyoncé’s drummer, at the same time she was musical directing an Off Broadway show for Sandra Bernhard. And though she received standing ovations during the auditions, LaFrae realized that what she was shooting for in music wasn’t that.
So she said no to Queen B, and her career trajectory pivoted toward empowering others.
“What I love about music, what made me want to play, what touches me is not entertaining people, but building community,” LaFrae said. “I come from the African American background where music is not just the show — it’s a way to heal, mourn, build community, empower. I learned I had to create my own value.”
LaFrae is a multi-hyphenate — an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, electro-acoustic adventurer — but likes to refer to herself as an imaginationist. She works deeply with the science of sound — acoustics, waveforms — and brings that knowledge to her students.
In New York, where she still calls home, she’s one of the founding members of the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls: a free music laboratory to empower girls and gender-expansive youth. It was the first STEM-based music program in NYC. It’s named after Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, a musical pioneer.
Over time, the program expanded beyond the summer to year-round programming in partnership with organizations and schools throughout New York. Students have access to more than 30 digital, analog and modular synthesizers, along with computers, guitars, basses, electronic drum kits and a quadraphonic sound system.
In 2024, LaFrae was recommended to the Muse Machine in Dayton — unaware that she had appeared in the organization’s debut production in 1982, “West Side Story,” at the Victory Theatre, now the Victoria. She was contracted by Muse to create a Dayton funk-based teacher approach called the Funky Classroom. Alongside Deron Bell, a jazz musician from the area, LaFrae led a summer teachers institute in Dayton.
“Funk fundamentals are life fundamentals,” LaFrae told WDTN in 2024. “Groove, identity, imagination and futurism.”
This year, LaFrae returned to her hometown for a 32-school tour for Muse supporting the Dayton Funk legacy curriculum.
“Everything has a groove. We’re all drummers,” she said. “Life has patterns, but there’s also a flow to it. Understanding someone, who you are, how you become you from the internal family of origin to how you respond to external pressures. All innovation starts with an idea. Futurism is the hope.”
This April, LaFrae returns to the Victoria Theatre after composing three original pieces for “Rhythm of the City,” a collaboration between two prominent professional dance companies: Dayton Ballet and Dayton Contemporary Dance Company. Dayton Ballet and DCDC illustrate the power of unity across genres and showcase Dayton’s lasting impact on dance and funk music.
By leaving Dayton, LaFrae says she ultimately understood her roots more deeply. She also expanded her circles for more opportunities to learn. That’s what she does in New York with Willie Mae Rock Camp, and that’s what she’s bringing back home.
“It wasn’t until I got into the world that I realized how impactful things from my culture were in the world,” LaFrae said. “That’s almost a trope, right? To see the world to appreciate coming back home. I’m not saying that it’s better to get out. I’m at a place in my life now where I recognize the value that is here and the value that I can also bring here.”
Brandon Berry covers the music and arts scene in Dayton and Southwest Ohio. Reach him at branberry100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: Rhythm of the City
When: 7:30 p.m. April 10-11, 2:30 p.m. April 12
Where: Victoria Theatre, 138 N. Main St., Dayton
Cost: $16.50-$27
Tickets: daytonlive.org
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