When Musical History Is Stolen

Hello Everybody…
Over the course of a lifetime in music, you collect more than instruments.

You collect memories.

You collect sounds.

You collect pieces of people you loved.

Recently, our family experienced a burglary in which many of my instruments, recordings, handwritten arrangements, tapes, CDs, records, and archival materials were stolen.

At first, I did not fully understand why this loss felt so heavy. But the longer I sit with it, the more I realize that what hurts most is not even the monetary value of these things.

It is the feeling that parts of our music’s history has been disappeared.

Some of what was taken cannot be replaced.

Among the missing items are live recordings spanning decades of my performances and rehearsals — moments captured throughout my career that existed nowhere else. None of these recordings had yet been digitized, though we were preparing them for it. Some were performances with dear friends who are no longer here. Others were recordings given to me by musicians I admired and loved over many years.

There were boxes of handwritten music and original arrangements, including my own original arrangements as well as handwritten music connected to Tito Puente, Tito Rodriguez, Machito, and many others who helped shape this music and this culture. Some of these materials dated back generations. These were not simply papers stored away in boxes. They were working pieces of history — music that had been played, carried, marked, repaired, taught, and preserved through decades of performances and rehearsals.

There were also records collected throughout my life. Some rare, some worn nearly beyond use because I studied them so deeply over the years. Music that helped teach me how to listen, how to arrange, how to become the musician I became.

And then there are the instruments themselves.

Among them were my signature series congas, early runs of something I was so happy to get to be part of. There were instruments connected not only to my own musical journey, but also to the memory and legacy of my dear friend Johnny Rodriguez, as two of his signature series bongos were included in the stolen items. Some of these drums were used for years in teaching and workshops. They carry stories, memories, and fingerprints from countless rehearsals, performances, and moments shared with students and fellow musicians. 

The hardest part is not even knowing whether these things were sold.

It is wondering whether some of them may simply be gone forever — discarded by someone who did not realize what they were holding.

Music like this is more than entertainment. It is culture carried from one generation to another. So much of our history survives because musicians protected it, taught it, shared it, and handed it down person to person over decades. As I have gotten older, I have come to recognize that I am one of many caretakers of this music and this legacy. That is why this loss feels so much larger than missing possessions.

At the same time, I am deeply grateful for what I do have left and for the still having the opportunity to be one of the people who continue to love and protect this music.

Of course, we hope some of these items may still surface somewhere. We ask friends, musicians, collectors, pawn shops, music stores, archivists, and anyone in the musical community to please keep an eye out.

But I would also like to ask something else of the community.

If anyone has live recordings, rehearsal tapes, photographs, videos, CDs, or copies of performances that we may have shared together over the years, we would be deeply grateful if you would consider sharing copies with us so that we can begin rebuilding parts of this archive and preserving these memories for the future. Those can be sent to: goldenwoodmusic@gmail.com

There is a sheet attached that will show the stolen items (or examples of them.) If you have any information about these items, please contact the police at: 

Fort Collins Police Department

Officer Lamar (#442)

Case #: FC26-0006919

(970) 221-6540

(970) 416-2980

Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for helping us watch for these important things. Please take a moment to share this with others as well. 

— Jose Madera