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Townsell plays with a rather special quality of absorption in his material and knows how to wring from the piano a rolling torrent of sound with a firm touch. John Haskins, Kansas City Star

What a delight! What joy! Your CD arrived in today's mail, and I am very, very appreciative.... Your playing is elegant, with a wonderful élan! I have some record Blind Boone made, and they do not reveal the charm of the music - but, of course, they are quite old. You have put in focus an area of American music history that has been so obscured! Dominique-René de Lerma

A rare touch of brilliance. Recitals that shine bright in the routine of piano performances are comparatively rare. Such a one was given by Frank Townsell. Lawrence Cluderay, Music Critic, Vancouver Province

Mr. Townsell, a pianist of prodigious energy and technique, made the percussive best of the strong rhythms and improvisatory air with which Liszt invests his fiendishly difficult pieces. Dorothy Fraser, Penticton Herald

I am very pleased to recommend Mr. Frank Townsell. When I was Associate Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Mr Townsell frequently played as orchestral pianist in the orchestra. He is a pianist and musician of extremely high quality, as well as being a colleague whose work I will always value. I recommend him to you in the highest possible terms. Simon Stratfield, Music Director, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec

Having followed the activities of Mr. Frank Townsell, I consider it as a duty to call the attention of qualified Authorities on this musician of real value and complete seriousness. He deserves the appreciation which would open future possibilities for him. I recommend him very highly as a person, too. Nadia Boulanger

Frank Townsell: as innately elegant, refined, and kind a person as one is likely ever to meet. Jon Aymon

On the occasion of Frank's death, June 2010…

The world has lost a talent, Heaven has gained a Prince. Curtis Townsell, Frank's brother

Frank has been a loyal and considerate friend of mine for many years. His love of the Classics and his interest in resurrecting the forgotten life's work of several black musicians who would have otherwise been forgotten has enhanced musical history. His piano students and indeed all who knew him will not soon forget him. Michael Sturdy

Frank was one of the many reasons I cherish my time as an instructor in the Music Department at CCSF. Our desks faced one another as long as I can remember, and we traded cheerful greetings and thoughts about music several times a week. Even with his increasing health problems, he never lost his sense of humor or empathy for colleagues and students. I also greatly admired his scholarship and work at the piano. I've listened to his CD of Blind John Boone's music many times and have played selections from it for my history of jazz class. That he studied with Boulanger and Casadesus shows his historic stature, but he was primarily a good friend and fellow traveler in the world of music. I will miss him very much. Lenny Carlson, faculty member, City College of San Francisco