THE bandleader announced a lovely ballad from the World War II era, and the song Waiting for the Train to Come In emerged from the lips of a singer in a slinky black dress. The tune was a hit for the trumpet virtuoso and bandleader Harry James and the jazz singer Helen Forrest in the 1940s.

It was a Wednesday night at Swing 46 in Manhattan, and Stan Rubin and his 16-piece orchestra were playing their weekly gig. The oldies kept coming tunes like Its Been a Long, Long Time, Goody Goody and Glenn Millers In the Mood, which Mr. Rubin called the Beethovens Fifth of the swing era.

These were not simply contemporary versions of swing classics they were virtually exact arrangements from the historic kings of swing Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James and a dozen others.

Mr. Rubin, 76, a native of New Rochelle who now lives in Somers, is committed to preserving and performing the music as it sounded in its heyday from 1935 to 1945.