Marcel Mule was born in a village in Aube, France, to a father who learned the saxophone while doing his military service and became director of the brass band of Beaumont-le-Roger.
As a consequence, important composers of the day, including Gabriel Pierné, Florent Schmitt and Alexander Glazunov, contributed their own works to an ever-expanding repertoire for the instrument group.
The ensemble was heard in concerts and recitals throughout France, Belgium, Holland, England, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and North Africa.
In 1944, Claude Delvincourt, director of the Paris Conservatoire, allowed for the reestablishment of a saxophone class, an offering which had been abandoned with the departure of Adolphe Sax in 1870.
In 1958, Mule's career culminated as he embarked on a twelve concert tour of the United States with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Charles Münch.
His program choice for the tour was Jacques Ibert's Concertino da Camera for alto saxophone, and Henri Tomasi's Ballade.
In 1939, Alfred Frankenstein (1906–1981), music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, "Marcel Mule is the Jascha Heifetz of the Saxophone".
The books produced by Marcel Mule focused on the points mentioned above: technique (scales, arpeggios), articulation and tone production.
There were Guy Lacour, who was formerly tenor saxophone in the Quatuor, Michel Nouaux, Jean Ledieu, Jacques Person, Jean-Marie Londeix and others from France, but also from Spain, Canada and the United States.
Marcel Mule is universally recognized as a modern master of the classical saxophone and a spiritual heir to Adolphe Sax.
His depth of character, warmth and enthusiasm earned the affection and respect of his colleagues and students while making inestimable contributions in establishing the saxophone as a viable voice for musical expression.