Big band Latin refers to the Cuban-based big band sound produced by large brass- and sax-led bands whose heyday was the 1940s and '50s. Purveyors of authentic big band Latin music during this era included Machito's Afro-Cubans and the orchestras of José Curbelo, Noro Morales, Miguelito Valdés, Marcelino Guerra, Bebo Valdés, Beny Moré and the two Titos, Puente and Rodríguez. Big bands became increasingly uneconomic and largely gave way to smaller conjuntos and orquestas from the 1960s. Modern heirs of the big band Latin tradition include the Mambo Legends Orchestra, Big 3 Palladium Orchestra and Tito Puente Jr. y su Orquesta. Repertoires are heavy on mambos and arrangements can be jazz inflected with the bands featuring jazz sidemen and soloists. - John Child