As dozens of people bid adieu to Murphy’s Place Tuesday night, questions arose as to whether Toledo has seen the last of its iconic jazz clubs.

Who will fill the void? Maumee-based Degage Jazz Cafe, a small and intimate newcomer off River Road that features soft, romantic jazz five nights a week in one of the city’s quiet suburbs? Or Manhattan’s Restaurant on Adams Street in the near-downtown area, where jazz is just one part of a rotating musical menu that also includes blues and rock?

Numerous people, including former Toledo Jazz Society president Jon Richardson, speculated that those two establishments are the likely substitutions. But the reality is nobody knows where Toledo’s once-proud jazz tradition is heading, now that Murphy’s Place has closed its doors after a final jam session from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The city’s annual jazz festival in International Park drew impressive chair-toting, beer-chuggin’ crowds each June with headliners such as George Benson and Ellis Marsalis. But it fizzled as the corporate sponsorship from automotive manufacturers took a nosedive with the sour economy.

The Toledo Jazz Orchestra, which has had its own financial troubles, split from Toledo Jazz Society, now known as Art Tatum Jazz Heritage Society.

PHOTO GALLERY: See more pictures from the last jam at Murphy's Place.

It seems like only a few years ago that the Tony Packo’s namesake cafe on the East Side at Front and Consaul streets was packing in people with the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band every Friday night, that the ivory keys were being tickled at Ragtime Rick’s Last Draught off Glendale Avenue in South Toledo and, of course, that Margaret “Rusty” Monroe, the “Queen of Toledo Jazz” was operating one of the nation’s longest continuous jazz clubs, Rusty’s Jazz Cafe.

First on Secor Road in West Toledo and then on Tedrow Road in South Toledo, Rusty’s Jazz Cafe was a club where live jazz was performed seven days a week for 40 years until 2003.

By the time Ms. Monroe passed away in 2008 at age 89, the baton had been passed to Murphy’s Place and its two co-owners, Joan Russell and Clifford Murphy.

All seemed well and good. But on Jan. 2, Ms. Russell died of a sudden stroke at age 77 — leaving Mr. Murphy, a nationally recognized bassist, in charge of both the business and entertainment.

Mr. Murphy, 79, and his most famous sidekick, pianist Claude Black, who turns 79 in October himself, said Tuesday that they remain focused on their music and intend to keep playing.

But running a nightclub on top of that is just too much.

“After Joan died, it’s been so hard to do both the business and the music,” said Mr. Murphy, a lanky African-American with big, meaty hands that slide up and down his acoustic bass with an almost effortless, caressing touch.

The two had been nonstop musical partners since first taking a stage together in the late 1940s, performing six days a week up until Ms. Russell’s death.

Lately, it’s been about four days a week — still quite active by anyone’s standard.

“We had a good, long run here and at the other place,” Mr. Black said, referring to the original Madison Avenue site where Murphy’s Place opened in 1991. It relocated to 151 Water St. in 1996.

Rick Grafing, aka “Ragtime Rick,” lamented Tuesday night’s closing of Murphy’s Place, as did many others.

“It’s a real sad day for Toledo,” Mr. Grafing said. “There’s no full-time home anymore for people who are jazz fans and devoted to seeing it stay alive.”

Mr. Grafing and Mike Scott, both of whom do jazz shows for WCWA-1230 AM, said there’s no way to replace the ambiance of places that are so deeply rooted in jazz as Rusty’s Jazz Cafe and Murphy’s Place.

“You can’t replace it passionately because no one’s going to be an owner and a player, at least in this town,” Mr. Scott said.

Ray Heitger, clarinetist for the Cakewalkin’ Jass Band, called it “a loss of a training ground.”

He remarked how Toledo used to pride itself for offering more live jazz than the Detroit-Ann Arbor corridor.

No more.

Mr. Heitger said this is the first time in 40 years the Cakewalkin Jass Band doesn’t have regular gigs.

“The problem is no matter what acts get started, it won’t be based on a history of knowing the music,” he said.

Jazz guitarist Brandon Yanez, 40, said he owes his career to Mr. Murphy’s patience and skill as a mentor. Mr. Yanez said he often came to the club to hear him perform and pick up some tips.

“This is a staple of Toledo,” Mr. Yanez said of Murphy’s Place. “I would not be the jazz musician I am today if it was not for Clifford Murphy. And I’m sure a lot of other people can say that, too.”

Mr. Richardson, a Toledo lawyer, said the city needs jazz to enrich its cultural mix.

He recalled the night trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and members of the famed Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra who were on tour with him went looking for a club to give a spontaneous performance after their concert at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle.

The obvious choice? Murphy’s Place.

Mr. Richardson said he remembers the sight of Toledo vocalese legend Jon Hendricks walking into the bar with Mr. Marsalis and how Mr. Marsalis became astonished by the beauty of one of Mr. Black’s piano solos.

It looked like one of the world’s top trumpeters was truly blown away by what he was hearing in downtown Toledo, of all places.

Now, alas, jazz in Toledo is struggling.

“We had all that and we were spoiled,” Mr. Richardson said.

Contact Tom Henry at:

thenry@theblade.com

or 419-724-6079.

First Published June 1, 2011, 4:00 a.m.