Art Taylor: How important do you feel technique is for playing the drums?

Kenny Clarke: I think any musician needs just enough technique to express himself; I don’t think he should go beyond that. It becomes meaningless if it goes beyond his feelings. It’s always good to have a little technique to spare, but I don’t think you should become wrapped up in technical things as far as music is concerned, because music comes from the heart! It has nothing to do with technique at all as we know it.

Source: Notes and Tones: Musician to Musician Interviews, by Arthur Taylor, 1981 – Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, New York