Trumpeter Sean Jones conducts the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra

Trumpeter and educator Sean Jones returned to his old stomping grounds in Pittsburgh last week to participate in the University of Pittsburgh Jazz Seminar.

He’s back on Tuesday to conduct a scaled-down version of the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra, which he revitalized in 2009, that is performing a concert at the Greer Cabaret Theater in the Cultural District. The show, sponsored by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is “Liberation”— based on the works of the late African-American author James Baldwin. The music was composed and arranged by Akron, Ohio, saxophonist Chris Coles, and Mr. Jones noted that the piece referred to “certain connotations of civil liberties.”

Mr. Jones hasn’t lived in Pittsburgh for a few years. He moved to Boston to teach at the Berklee School of Music and spent some time with SFJAZZ in San Francisco, but now he is teaching at the Peabody Institute of John Hopkins University in Baltimore. He credits drummer Tom Wendt, who has pretty much run the orchestra since his departure, for maintaining the group’s focus on performing new music.

“Part of this is his brainchild as well,” Mr. Jones said. “You can look at him and think ‘average white man,’ [but] he’s extremely worldly — He knows about a ton of culture.

“The PJO has always been about having a cross section of great musicians from the Pittsburgh area. Some of the cats are educators, some are full-time musicians.” He believes that this area should be able to support an orchestra.

“If Knoxville, Tenn., can have a jazz orchestra, Pittsburgh should have one.”