He moved to New York City in 1967 to work with guitarist Luiz Bonfá and vocalist Astrud Gilberto. He met record producer Creed Taylor, who hired him to write arrangements for musicians at CTI Records. This included Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra and Paul Desmond. Deodato worked with Joao Donato (1970), Youg, Holt Unlimited (1973) and Luiz Bonfá (1973) also. He had other collaborations, including producing Kool and the Gang from the late 70s to the early 80s, the first solo album by Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners in 1988, and arranging Bjork's albums "Post", "Telegram" and "Homogenic". For his "Love Island" album, Deodato co-wrote the song "Tahiti Hut" with Maurice White. "Tahiti Hut", with lyrics written for it afterwards, was recorded by the band Switch with guest vocals by Jermaine Jackson.