Originally, we had thought of the name Tri-Fi for the trio. Tri-Fi was Tom's idea, and since good names are hard to come by, we thought this name was good, and we grew to like it more and more. About a year and a half before the release of the CD, Paul did an online search for Tri-Fi, and the name wasn't in use at the time. During this time, I had ideas about this image of a 3-sided radio (an antique tube-style radio), where we were sitting around on each side of the radio listening to jazz, sipping wine (see The Saga of Corkscrew Records). Some time in the year 2005, Paul had a dream in which he envisioned a "Victor" style Talking Machine that had 3 horns with our faces in the bells. So naturally I went to work on a proposed "album concept," to create the 3-sided talking machine called Tri-Fi.

I opted out of putting our faces in the bells!

Then, a few months before submitting our CD to production, Paul did another on-line search for Tri-Fi, and a trio from New York had already adopted the name! We had to start all over again and find a new name. After many naming sessions at Tom's notorious practice and rehearsal studio, we eventually narrowed it down and agreed that our name for the trio would be Times Three. But we also agreed that we would keep the triple-horned talking machine concept for the cover art of the album.

Continuing with the antique radio & music player theme, while experimenting with a burlap texture, I ended up with a tweed-like background that to me reminded of old speaker grill cloth. I felt the cd cover had a good blend of old and new elements to keep the design straightforward and not a parody of itself.

The portrait photos on the inside panel were snapshots taken by photographer Susan West at an outdoor gig at Stanford University with our friend and frequent collaborator, saxophonist Michael Gold.