First Monday Jazz with Margaret Murphy-Webb

First Monday Jazz with Margaret Murphy-Webb

To celebrate 10 years of First Monday Jazz, Arts + Public Life audiences will be treated to a year of live jazz performances.

MARGARET MURPHY-WEBB is a jazz musician, music producer and arts agitator. A graduate of Chicago State University with a B.M. in Music Performance, Margaret is also a twenty-two-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department. Margaret began her professional career as a jazz vocalist performing at the iconic jazz venues that lined 75th street in the 70s and 80s, earning her the nickname “Queen of 75th Street.” At the advice of a fellow musician, she began attending the famous Tuesday night jazz jams hosted by saxophonist Dr. Earl LaVon Freeman and under his tutelage, honed her jazz and performance skills. Margaret has been featured at festivals and venues all over the United States, as well as in France, Germany, and Great Britain. Margaret opened for major recording artists Joe Sample, Chick Corea, and Tower of Power and she has performed for Presidents Clinton and Obama. Her cover of Sade’s “Pearls” won Independent Radio’s “Grindie Award” for best jazz vocal performance, and she is the featured vocalist for Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater. In 2015, Margaret founded The South Side Jazz Coalition, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of jazz and live jazz performance on the south side of Chicago. She is a member of the City of Chicago Cultural Council and The Chicago Peace Fellows. Margaret is currently working on the release of her musical tribute to British jazz vocalist Dame Cleo Laine.