One might call the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra the "house band" for Heinz Hall.

Sean Jones is trying to make the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra the "house band" for the August Wilson Center for African American Culture.

The trumpeter and Duquesne University faculty member, who serves as co-musical director of the revitalized 16-piece band that performs its first concert in its new digs tomorrow night, subscribes to a simple idea: "There are other cities in the world that have their own jazz orchestra -- why doesn't Pittsburgh have one?" That is, a legitimate repertory orchestra, not a pick-up band of musicians who get paid by the gig.

The Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra is loosely based on the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the Wynton Marsalis-led ensemble with which Jones also has performed.

"It's the resident jazz orchestra -- they're salaried musicians, like the Pittsburgh Symphony," Jones says. "My goal is to have the musicians in this band be taken care of as much as those musicians are. That's something I believe that should happen in every city."

But it isn't new, even for Pittsburgh.

Jones, who last year approached Shay Wafer, the August Wilson Center's program director, about reviving the PJO, got the concept from Nathan Davis, longtime director of jazz studies at the University of Pittsburgh who had originally assembled the PJO for similar reasons in the mid-1980s, initially as a fundraiser for the Ronald McDonald House. Davis envisioned a monthly concert series, including commissioning new works by living composers. It even had a permanent home -- Carnegie Library in Oakland, which had donated office and rehearsal space.

"We were going to have salaries -- $150 for the performance plus $50 for two rehearsals," Davis says. "It meant that every musician would get $250-$300. They would have retirement, pension plan, medical benefits -- that was our dream."

That first 1986 fundraising gig featured the Modern Jazz Quartet, and George Benson was a guest artist for another show. Among the musicians who played in the orchestra were Danny Cohn, Chuck Austin, Johnny Costa, Joe Harris, Nelson Harrison, Joe Dallas, Harold Betters, Randy Purcell, Ray DeFade Sr. and Sandy Staley.

Unfortunately, back then the PJO couldn't get funding from major corporate benefactors. Davis said that they asked him, "Isn't jazz self-supporting?" And band members were playing with other, similar groups for less money, so it eventually folded.

"You couldn't blame the musicians because they have to work wherever they can work," Davis says.

That may be less of an issue today, since the orchestra has received grants from the Multicultural Arts Initiative, for which it recently played a benefit, and from the August Wilson Center itself, where it will perform quarterly as part of the concert series, play different contracted events throughout town and then, hopefully monthly, Jones says.

Wafer said that the center was happy to cooperate.

"Pittsburgh has such a tremendous jazz legacy, and when Sean approached us about [re-creating] the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra and it being a resident big band for the August Wilson Center, we were thrilled and honored to provide a home for a new generation of jazz musicians," Wafer says.

For the PJO, arrangements will be written by Mike Tomaro, Jones' partner, the band's lead alto saxophonist and Davis' counterpart at Duquesne University, and sometimes by the composers for special shows, Jones says.

"We're commissioning a piece by [veteran tenor saxophonist] Jimmy Heath. We're looking at the spring for that," he said. "[Trumpeter] Terence Blanchard's interested in doing something with the band. So there's a lot on the table."

And just as before, top local musicians have been recruited for the project. The saxophone section includes Curtis Johnson, Kenny Powell and -- following in his father's footsteps -- Eric DeFade. Jay Asbhy, whose guitarist brother Marty serves as executive producer of the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild concert series, is part of the trombone section. Slippery Rock University professor Steve Hawk plays lead trumpet. The rhythm section comprises pianist Alton Merrill, bassist Paul Thompson and drummer Tom Wendt. Carolyn Perteete is the vocalist.

"It's important for me to let Pittsburgh know, 'This is your orchestra,' " Jones says.

And Davis appreciates that Jones is bringing back the PJO.

"It's been dead so long, so that's not really passing the torch," said Davis, who is set to retire in the near future. "It's up for the next cats to do it. I did my bit."

Critics Andrew Druckenbrod and Scott Mervis talk about music on "The Beat," available exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.