Career
Dias was working with his own band out of his basement in Hicksville, Long Island, when he placed an ad in The Village Voice in the summer of 1970 that read: "Looking for keyboardist and bassist. Must have jazz chops! Assholes need not apply". Donald Fagen and Walter Becker responded to the advertisement.
They joined his band and immediately began playing their own material.
Dias fired the rest of the band, and the three of them moved to California, adding drummer Jim Hodder, guitarist Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, and vocalist David Palmer before recording for American Broadcasting Company/Dunhill Records as Steely Dan. Following a tour promoting Pretzel Logic, Becker and Fagen decided to break the band up and use session musicians on future albums.
Dias was included as a session guitarist on 1975"s Katy Lied, 1976"s The Royal Scam, and 1977"s Aja. In 1991 he joined Toto on their Summer Festival Tour.
He also recorded with Wayne Shorter, Wilfrido Vargas and Pete Christlieb.
Dias is now a computer programmer living in Los Los Angeles Along with Rich McConnell and Basil Hosmer, Dias has been an architect of Nantucket"s Clipper 5.x xBase compiler. As of 2012, Dias was playing with Spanky and Our Gang.
In 2015 they planned a tour that included the Iridium in New York City. Some of Denny"s original material was recorded on a 1999 Civil Defense called "Matter of Time" with Jason and Bergsten as the core of the band.