This roundtable is a Centennial anniversary meditation on John Coltrane’s ubiquitous influence on the South African jazz tradition. While his role as an African American cultural icon has been robustly explored by scholars (Bracey, Sanchez, et al, 2014 and Bracey, 2016), his role as a cultural icon in other areas of the Black world has received less attention in ethnomusicological scholarship. This session builds on Feld’s (2012) exploration of Coltrane’s influence on musicians in Ghana, and Kubik (2017) and Washington’s (2012) study of his influence on South African tenor saxophonist Winston Ngozi. An ethnomusicologist/South African Jazz scholar will moderate a dialogue in the first half with four South African jazz musicians. The dialogue between a legendary tenor saxophonist, a leading younger-generation alto saxophonist, a Blue Note Africa recording artist and tenor saxophonist in the younger generation and a celebrated middle-generation South African jazz pianist will explore why Coltrane was positioned by Winston Ngozi as a musical father in his song “Dedication (To Daddy Trane…),” his tremendous influence on the modal aesthetic of South African jazz and its tenor saxophone tradition, as well as their insider perspectives on the cultural, political, spiritual and aesthetic meanings of Coltrane’s music to South African jazz musicians, particularly his role as a thought leader of the Black liberation movement with African heritage celebrations in recordings like “Africa/Brass,” in relationship to the Anti-Apartheid Freedom Movement. In the second half, attendees will engage with the presenters with questions to further understand Coltrane’s impact on South African jazz.