Born the youngest of three children in a middle class home, Nakamura affectionately calls his parents warmhearted, free-spirited people who were not strict about schoolwork. He grew up in the mountainside outside of Kobe until he was eighteen. It is where he fondly recalls catching cicadas and other insects along with fishing for crabs in the river. “I loved it,” says Nakamura. “I love being in nature and playing in nature.” This love of nature also gave him a keen eye to capture beauty in natural surroundings as a photographer. His photographs of nature appear in his promotional pamphlet for his first album. Nakamura explains the story behind the pieces in his album “Tempeizm”, particularly a suite he composed titled “Echoes of Summer” which consists of five movements. The suite was composed from his memories swimming in ravines and driving through mountains with a friend. “The sun rays were sparkling,” explained Nakamura. “The solitary Shinto shrine stood tall amongst the sounds of the cicada. This memory was deeply etched into my memory.” “Tempeizm” also includes Etude C-Moll, Nakamura’s very first piano composition which plays at a rapid speed and sounds as technically difficult as Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumblebee. “I composed this for myself to improve performance, skill and technique,” explained Nakamura who included a chromatic scale throughout. “I believe that etude pieces are effective if the technical difficulty is uniform throughout the piece. So I recomposed it numerous times to get this final piece.” The sound is nothing short of genius, especially when you realize that Nakamura doesn’t actually “compose” music on the page but in his head.

Nakamura was introduced to the piano at six-years-old and played until the age of twelve. “Nothing serious. Maybe 30 minutes each week as a hobby without any formal training,” said Nakamura nonchalantly, unaware of how incredible and rare it is for someone of his ability not to have played seriously as a child. His teen years were bleak and unproductive. He completely abandoned music studies and was kicked out of school at sixteen. He left home for Osaka and became a construction worker. Music was something that Nakamura turned to in order to turn his life around because he realized that it was his only passion and did not want to end up working in construction his entire life. He studied progressive rock at Osaka University and was influenced mainly by the English rock group Emerson, Lake, & Palmer while writing songs for band arrangements. In his second year, he heard the music of Hungarian pianist Georges Cziffra which Nakamura credits to have changed his entire life and decision to become a solo pianist and composing music that fused his passions and would produce a sound that would challenge conventional standards of classical and jazz music and would set him apart as an artist. It is this music that he would later send to EMI Music and later appear on his album. Tracks like “Fantasy” which Nakamura wanted to be free of any musical formats and rules. “It has irregular timing and a completely original style that cannot be categorized in any one specific genre”.

Wanting to study with an accomplished pianist who could teach him classical methods, Nakamura contacted Dr. Yedidia in 2006 who had established the New York Piano Academy only a year before on 105th and Amsterdam. Nakamura bought Yedidia’s album in Japan and was impressed with Yedidia’s technique and playing and wanted to come to New York to study with him. “We worked together for about a year and he didn’t need much help because he’s a pretty full artist,” said Yedidia. “All of the music is in his head which is quite amazing. He doesn’t write anything down.” The only thing problematic with this, Yedidia points out, is that other people can’t play his music. Despite this lack of development in terms of music theory and formal composition writing, Nakamura has no desire to further his formal training at a music conservatory. With a record deal and previous training at Osaka University, Nakamura could easily get into Julliard or the Manhattan School of Music but he waves off the idea that he could benefit there any more than the hours he spends playing at home. “I’m not classical and I’m not jazz” says Nakamura who doesn’t want to be categorized or identified with one genre of music. “I’m just a pianist.” He realizes his uniqueness and nontraditional music background is part of his appeal and what has set him apart so far in his career. The bad boy aspect of his life combined with his romantic ballads gives him a sort of sex appeal in Japan that allows him to appear on a variety of television and radio programs including pop stations for the MTV generation. A young female fan states that Nakamura’s sensitivity makes her feel warm and his passion and devotion to music makes her admire him as a musician. “I am a fan of his humanity,” she said. “I think Tempei san has some kind of ability to make people feel relaxed and peaceful.” It is a quality that has helped Nakamura establish friendships with influential musicians and people in the music industry and could likely help Nakamura establish himself as an international pianist in the future.