The Lion Roars

By day a mild-mannered accountant, by night a roaring jazz pianist and singer.

A boogie and stride pianist, Willie ‘The Lion’ McIntyre was a leading figure in the traditional jazz boom in Melbourne after World War II. He sang in a Fats Waller style or shouted the blues, and was a key member of Tony Newstead’s Southside Gang and the Portsea Trio.

Together with clarinettist George Tack, he developed a series of comedy sketches in the tradition of Australian vaudeville and was one of the great characters on the Melbourne jazz scene in the 1940s and 1950s.

This is the story of a unique figure in the history of Australian jazz who grew up during the Depression, served in a medical unit in World War II and became a great entertainer.