“Butt switching, finger-snapping music.”
That’s what Margaret Murphy-Webb’s mother called secular music in their Seventh Day Adventist household. She joined Chicago police in 1994. She left the police force after suffering a knee injury while responding to a potential suicide call – and after leaving the police force, became a full-time jazz singer and founded the South Side Jazz Coalition in 2015.
Today, at 69, Margaret as Chicago’s “jazz cop”, she brings free music to underserved communities through her South Side Jazz Coalition, proving that sometimes the paths we’re not supposed to take lead us exactly where we need to be.
Your jazz journey began in your father’s record store, listening to Carmen McRae. Tell us about those early moments.
I was raised a Seventh-day Adventist, so we weren’t allowed to listen to secular music. But when I went to my dad’s shop, I listened to Carmen McRae and Cleo Lane over and over again. I just loved their voices.
In my church, everything was about harmony, no gospel music. So I had a really strong foundation in harmony. My ear was tuned to listen to the nuances in how people sing. For me, it’s always been jazz. I realized my voice was suited to that—I never would have been Aretha Franklin because I’m not a belter. I fell in love with what I could do.
Do you believe that being in good health shapes longevity as a singer?
Oh, absolutely. My mom was 88, walking two miles a day. My dad lived to about 102. I tell people you have to stay healthy because seniors are living longer. You have to watch what you eat, exercise—you don’t want to end up in a nursing home. I work out with a whole community of seniors. There’s one lady who’s 78 and looks amazing. You don’t have to be broken down.
How did you balance being a Chicago police officer with your jazz career?
They called me “jazz cop”. Music is the great communicator that brings people together. I was a professional singer before I was police, so I brought that with me. I did concerts in the park, started giving piano lessons at a school on my beat that had no music program, had an after-school choir. I used music as part of my ministry of being a police officer. I had a softer touch because I had music.
On my beat on Sheridan and Broadway—the largest homeless population in the city—whenever any of my homeless people would die, I would sing at the funeral. I had a softer touch, because I had music.
What led you to found the South Side Jazz Coalition in 2015?
Von Freeman had weekly Tuesday night jazz sessions, and when he got sick, he told me, “Margaret, you have to keep this going.” After he died in 2012, I started sessions at the 50 Yard Line, but the owner said they weren’t making money. That’s when I started the South Side Jazz Coalition.
When I moved to the South Side, the culture shock was real. No grocery stores, you had to drive to get fresh fruit. I believe the arts should be equitable. Every community should have access to free arts—music, dance, everything. Von used to say sometimes people don’t have $10 to get into a club, but they want to hear music. At our sessions, you can walk in free, and we have the $5 holler – a complete meal for $5.
Who are your greatest musical inspirations?
Sherry Scott – my she-ro. She was the original singer for Earth, Wind, and Fire before they decided they didn’t want a female. When I was a young singer, she pulled me aside and said, ‘You gotta have more than a pretty face and beautiful voice, you gotta entertain. Tell people a story and bring your audience in.’ That was the best advice anybody ever gave me.
My she-roes are Chicago women people don’t even know: Paula Greer, Donna Swope, Charlotte Foster, Teddy Thomas. These amazing performers who still call me “the baby” and I’m almost 70!
What does “aging with attitude” mean to you?
There is nothing you can’t overcome. I’m a breast cancer survivor. You can’t overcome anything without positive energy and the attitude that you’re going to beat this. I live my life through moments. I know this is a bad moment right here, but tomorrow, or even in an hour, this moment is going to be gone.
I tell my grandkids: if it’s something you really want to do, grab for it. If you don’t get it, grab for something else because it wasn’t for you.
It’s always a lesson, never a mistake.
Photo by Sara Shoman
NaBeela Washington, an emerging Black writer, holds a Master’s in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University and Bachelor’s in Visual Advertising from The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She has been published in Eater, The Cincinnati Review, and others. Learn more at nabeelawashington.com
