Stephen Howard Short

Stephen H. Short, age 72, was discovered deceased in his Arlington apartment on Wednesday May 5, 2021. It appeared that Stephen passed away from a fall or of natural causes. Steve leaves family members brother Charles Short and spouse, niece Anne Short and family, nephew Daniel Plaut and family, nephew Timothy Plaut and family, and nephew Charlie Short. His sister, Mary Gardner, predeceased him.

Soft spoken, sensitive, inquisitive, he cared deeply about his friends and family. Born in Boston, he was raised in Brookline, and spent the summers of his early years in Rockport learning to swim in the Steel Derrick Quarry. He loved this quarry and swimming throughout his life.

Steve graduated from Brown & Nichols, University of Pennsylvania (BA in Music History), and the New England Conservatory of Music (Master of Music in Music Theory, With Honors). He also studied Jazz Theory at the Berklee College of Music, and Music Theory and Composition privately with Hugo Norden, Boston University. He loved music, especially the jazz standards, and since 1977 he composed nearly 450 songs in the tradition of the “Great American Songbook”.

During the 70s and 80s, Steve became interested in the spiritual meaning of life and began his search for, in his words, the one and only everlasting God. At first, he spent almost a decade in Cambridge and Los Angeles studying and practicing Buddhism, but he didn’t find God. He left that belief behind in the late 80s. Soon afterwards Steve experienced a sudden awakening, which he published in the Christian Research Journal (CRJ) in 1990. “Zen and the art of not knowing God” https://www.equip.org/article/zen-buddhism/ is still, thirty years later, a popular read. Plus he maintained a blog http://godisgoodandlovesyou.blogspot.com/

His love for music continued and played out every Sunday afternoon at the Acton Jazz Cafe’s open mic for more than eight years. Steve looked forward to these afternoons, when he was able to present his music to his old and new friends, and enjoy the music of others. Thanks to Joan Watson Jones for making this video of Steve performing at the Acton Jazz Cafe and posting it on https://youtu.be/OlTlGTvyc9g Steve also performed on cable TV via the Belmont Media Center and was accompanied by the trio “Theme III”.  After Acton Jazz Cafe, Steve performed during open mic at Ryles Jazz Club, Cambridge. He sang his original songs, backed by the house band and Ben Petrucci's sax, until about 2014. Towards the end of Steve’s life, he was looking forward to participating in the Composer's Music Forum as well as going to The Be Bop Club in Boston.

A celebration of Steve's life of music and friendship is scheduled for Saturday, September 18 at 10:00 A.M. at the New Life Community Church in Concord, MA.  If you are interested in attending, either live or remotely, please email <steveshortmemorial AT fastmail.com> so that we can plan the service and let you know of any further details.(Note: for the email address, replace "AT" with "@".)