Born in New York City as son to Jose "Pin" Madera, who was the first arranger for the Machito Orchestra.



Jose Madera started playing timbales with machito as a teenager and went on to become Tito Puente’s Conguero for 30 years.



He was the musical director for the Tito Puente Orchestra for the last ten years and was also a staff arranger at the legendary Fania Records since the 1970’s.