It may be too much to expect a TV documentary to restore jazz to the mass popularity it enjoyed decades ago. But Ken Burns' voluminous and talked-about Jazz, which wrapped up recently on PBS, has created a surge of interest in the music.

        CD sales are up, a companion book has debuted on the New York Times best-seller list, and some jazz institutions say their programs are evoking more interest.

        The wave of interest comes along with criticism from some jazz purists that the series left out key artists, obscured some history and crammed the last 40 years of jazz into the final episode.

        Even that debate, however, has been welcomed by many jazz enthusiasts.

        “That means people are paying attention,” said Karen Johnson, general manager of Jazz at Lincoln Center, in New York City.

        She and others hope that novices who tuned in to the 10-part series to learn more will become lifelong fans, appreciating not only jazz's history but contemporary jazz, too.

        “I know personally I talked to a number of friends who are not jazz buyers or listeners . . . who found themselves hooked on this series,” said Bill McFarlin, executive director of the Manhattan, Kan.-based International Association of Jazz Educators.

        He acknowledged the omissions of “Bill Evans, Chick Corea . . . Pat Metheny, and a number of others who have obviously had an impact on this evolution of music.” But he noted that Mr. Burns never intended to give a definitive history.

        “In context of what the intentions were, I think that the end result will be positive,” Mr. McFarlin said.

        The documentary, which Mr. Burns called the last in a trilogy that began with 1990's The Civil War and continued with 1994's Baseball, began airing Jan. 8.

        Columbia and Verve Records jointly released 24 recordings in conjunction with the series, all with the stamp of “Ken Burns Jazz.” The five-disc Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of America's Music has been certified gold.

        In addition, Billboard lists seven “Ken Burns” CDs dedicated to the work of individual artists such as Louis Armstrong among the top 10 selling jazz albums in the country.

        And the increase in album sales has not been limited to the Burns titles. The traditional jazz market has seen at least $1 million more in sales since the series began, said Michael Kauffman, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Verve.

        “Jazz sales in the United States last fall were roughly a little over 2 percent of sales,” he said. Since the series, “we've seen the sales go up to just over 4 percent.”

        While that might not seem like much of an increase, for the jazz world it's huge, he said.

        “The whole jazz category has risen through the impact of the Ken Burns jazz series,” said Mr. Kauffman.

        At Jazz at Lincoln Center, Ms. Johnson said the center's Web site received double the number of hits it normally does. And she is receiving more letters and calls from teachers asking how they can learn more about jazz and teach it to students.

        Certainly, Jazz was a great primer for those unaware that Mr. Armstrong did more than sing “Hello Dolly,” or who didn't know the name Jelly Roll Morton. The challenge now, jazz promoters and enthusiasts say, will be sustaining and broadening the interest that the series awakened.

        “We're hoping that people are able to appreciate artists like John Coltrane and Miles Davis” — said Jeff Jones, senior vice president of Columbia/Legacy Recordings — “and then make the leap to Branford and Wynton Marsalis.”

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'Jazz' series raises interest, CD sales