Zarate Pollace Project (ZPP) was a latin-jazz/fusion project created by guitarist and hit songwriter Abel Zarate and pianist/composer Michelle Pollace in the early 2000s. With the help of stellar Bay Area musicians (John Santos-percussion, Paul VanWageningen-drums, Curtis Ohlson-bass, Anthony Blea-viola/violins), the duo recorded the CD "Soul Redemption" in 2004. Abel's signature soulful, catchy guitar melodies are a defining feature of ZPP's Latin-tinged music.It was Abel and Michelle's goal to create a Latin/Brazilian-flavored contemporary jazz with a positive, uplifting message, and, most important, to make the record they wanted to make. The result was a work that somewhat defied categorization -- a blend of smooth jazz, jazz fusion, and Latin jazz, with Abel's signature gift of writing beautiful melody and playing soulful lines, with Michelle's knack for off-the-beaten path harmonic stuctures. The disc garnered worldwide radio airplay and favorable reviews.
While ZPP may no longer be an active writing and performing group, the duo's music is still available for downloading and streaming. Check it out here.
Learn more about Abel here.