Born in Germany and raised on Canada’s Vancouver Island, Wallmann studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music and at NYU while establishing himself as a versatile and in-demand sideman and an innovative composer and bandleader in New York and later in Oakland, CA. In 2012, Wallmann moved to Madison to lead the University of Wisconsin’s jazz studies program. Downbeat has called him “a remarkable pianist and composer […] his evocative compositions are brimming with melodic cogency and rhythmic pull,” named his 2015 album The Town Musicians an “Editors’ Pick,” and described his playing on his 2018 album Day and Night as “confident, muscular and elegant.” Wallmann’s work embraces advocacy for human and environmental rights, and the Wisconsin Gazette called his 2018 album Love Wins “one of the most interesting and accomplished jazz albums to come out in recent years. Love Wins has taken the uniquely American art form to the next step of its creative journey.”