CTI's 7000 series was introduced in 1977 to herald the label's newfound independence from Motown Records. But now that CTI was again an independent entity, there were considerably fewer records - and far less acclaim - than before. Bob James and Hubert Laws, who recorded their final CTI efforts in this series, had already accepted lucrative contracts from Columbia Records - the same company which would soon end up owning the rights to most of the CTI legacy. And George Benson, who would be involved in a decade-long legal dispute with Creed Taylor, left CTI for the creative freedom Warner Bros. offered and huge, successful pop hits like "This Masquerade" and "On Broadway." 

Taylor, however, was able to bring both Art Farmer and Yusef Lateef to the label and it was the trumpeter's Big Blues (with Jim Hall) that became this series' most prominent effort. 

Also in this series were three albums worth of material recorded in 1972, performed by the CTI All Stars at concerts presented at the Hollywood Bowl. Despite the poor quality of the master recordings, CTI's biggest stars (Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson and Grover Washington, Jr. to name just a few) were represented on these recordings and the label really needed the infusion of funds the popularity of these artists could generate. So Taylor went to work re-building the tapes and hiring New York session men to overdub (without credit) rhythm parts originally played by Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette and Airto. When the three records were issued in 1977, a consortium of musicians led by Bob James sued Creed Taylor, claiming Taylor had not received the artists' permission to release the music. A settlement was reached in 1979 requiring the albums to be permanently removed from circulation (even though all three volumes were issued as a two-disc CD set by Japanese King label in the early 1990s and by the Japanese PJL label in 2003) and allowing Bob James full ownership of the four albums he recorded for CTI between 1974 and 1977.

Still, Creed Taylor was determined to keep CTI alive. He launched a reissue series of CTI classics (the 8000 series) and continued to record icons like Nina Simone when it became feasible to do so. But most of the recordings in this series were dominated by the generic disco style prevalent in jazz at the time -- and despite its appeal to mass popularity, the records simply didn't generate the sales CTI needed. 

By December 1978, CTI Records was forced to file Chapter XI Bankruptcy to protect itself against creditors. Creed Taylor was then able to arrange a new distribution pact with the large East Coast distributor, Alpha Distribution, and banked on the popular appeal of Patti Austin to pull the company through. Records in this series, though few, were issued until 1979, when Creed Taylor began a new distribution arrangement with Columbia Records.