How many music acts reach 70? Celebrating seven decades, the Nash Hernandez Orchestra is the longest-running band is Austin music history.: “We started out at Donn’s Depot in 2005 doing a Sunday Tea Dance,” recalls Ruben Hernandez, the group’s leader and drummer who joined his father’s band as a percussionist in 1970 at the ripe young age of 11. “In 2006, we started a monthly Saturday night gig which is still ongoing.”: Formed as a swing band in 1949, the Orchestra performed primarily the popular tunes of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and the like, but also incorporated the Latin stylings of Perez Prado and Xavier Cugat. Nash Hernandez played what people wanted to hear, often including boleros, cumbias, cha-chas, and even salsa when the occasion arose. Frank Sinatra and, later, R&B favorites by Otis Redding, James Brown, and Al Green also made the cut.: “My father was never into Tejano and if it was up to him, he never would have played a polka,” chuckles the younger Hernandez. “Some years ago, we played at Austin Aqua Fest and for some odd reason we were slated for Italian Night, so we worked up some popular Italian songs.: “We were always a cover band,” he continues. “Neither my father nor I were inspired to compose new music, but I’m an arranger and so I arrange the various songs to fit the sound of our orchestra.”: Ruben Hernandez has led the band since his father’s passing in 1994.: “I don’t consider us a jazz band, even though we have a full horn section. And I don’t want it to sound too current. I just want the big band sound.”