Ken Burns

For more than 20 years, the Glenelg High School Jazz Ensemble has made a name for itself, swingin', scattin' and be-boppin' its way to scores of awards and performances at international festivals in Switzerland and the Netherlands. But now the talented group will show off its chops to an even broader audience, in a show that will be presented in connection with Ken Burns' latest documentary "Jazz," debuting tomorrow night on PBS. In conjunction with the 10-part series, Maryland Public Television (MPT)

The only way to find a Ken Burns film wanting is to measure it against another one of his films. "Jazz," the 19-hour Burns documentary premiering tomorrow night on PBS, isn't the acclaimed filmmaker's greatest work. "The Civil War" is more moving and lyrical, while "Baseball" has a greater resonance and more satisfying narrative conclusion. And yet, "Jazz," the third and final leg of Burns' great American trilogy, reaches so high, "swings" so wide and is so wise in so many ways that you can't help but call it epic.

Do you know what your preschooler is watching when you're not around?That's the question PBS says parents should be asking about TV and child-care centers.A recent survey commissioned by PBS of 214 child-care centers across the country found that TV has become a big part of the day at many centers.Eighty-six percent of the child-care centers surveyed said they use TV, with 69 percent reporting that watching TV is among the "typical activities" for children at their facilities."The survey results suggest parents can stop wondering whether their children are watching TV at the child-care center and, hopefully, focus instead on the truly important questions: What are my kids watching, and how are those programs being used?"

Amid all the talk of new series, it is easy to forget about the old. One of the oldest network series, NYPD Blue, returns for another season tonight, and I am happy to report there is still much life in this venerable cop drama from Steven Bochco. The secret of success for NYPD Blue is a simple one: Stick with Sipowicz - Dennis Franz's Detective Andy Sipowicz, every bit as much a television classic as any of the great British detectives like Inspector Morse. Enjoy him now, because we are really going to miss this guy when he's gone.

BASEBALL" -- the currently running public television series -- spends a significant amount of time examining the role African Americans have had in the sport. Creator Ken Burns tells with sensitivity the story of the first black to play in the major leagues, the Brooklyn Dodgers Jackie Robinson.However, there's no mention of what amounts to a footnote in baseball history but was big news in Baltimore. The Orioles were late in acquiring a black player -- it was not until 1954, seven years after the major leagues race barrier had been broken.

The Old West has spawned so many legends and myths, the truth has often been lost in the shuffle. A new 10-hour documentary, "The Wild West," attempts to tell how the West was really won."The Wild West" premieres Monday at 8 p.m. on Channel 54.Like "The Civil War," Ken Burns' acclaimed 1990 PBS documentary series, "The Wild West" features vintage photographs from the period, excerpts from diaries and letters read by well-known actors, interviews with historians and music from the era. Jack Lemmon is the narrator.

* It will be fisticuffs heaven for fight fans Sunday night whe Showtime turns on the cameras at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas and just leaves 'em on until the fuses blow out. The four-hour show, beginning at 10 p.m., features champions galore, all in safe, keep-active bouts.Julio Cesar Chavez (83-0) checks out Marty Jakubowski (37-0), and his next "serious" opponent, Greg Haugen (31-4), takes on Armando Campas (16-4). Terry Norris (32-3), wondering who his next opponent is going to be now that Simon Brown has undergone eye surgery, will use "Irish" Pat Lawlor (18-3)

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Leo Durocher, embittered by his failure to be elected to baseball's Hall of Fame, told a close friend two weeks ago that he had instructed his lawyer to refuse his induction if he were chosen posthumously."

BASEBALL: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY. BY GEOFFREY C. WARD and KEN BURNS. KNOPF, $60.THE AGE of multi-media productions brings us the game, series or season and the video, the movie or TV show and the book. Could the Diamondscreen at Oriole Park bring us an instant, grand-scale replay of the current public television special, Ken Burns' survey of baseball's first 150 years? We'd have to sit there for 18 1/2 hours -- pretty long, even without rain delays.The age of labor-management delays brings us, at least, time to PTC examine a 486-page, both-hands book containing 530 pictures, no statistical tables and a consistently entertaining text; plus index and bibliography.