Machito’s band is often considered the greatest in the history of Latin music. Along with rival bandleaders Tito Rodríguez and Tito Puente, Machito was part of what came to be called the Big Three. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, they offered up memorable mambo performances at the legendary Palladium Ballroom in mid-town Manhattan and other upscale venues. While New York became the hub of Latin music in the U.S, another famous Cuban bandleader, Dámaso Pérez Prado, based in Mexico City and Los Angeles, brought mambo international visibility.