"Mediocre" is a composition written by Bud Powell c. 1955 for his album The Lonely One... which has been noted for its unconventional structure and its combination of stride piano with jarring right-hand interpretation.
He was joined by Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums, and the album was released by Verve as The Lonely One... in 1959.
Patrick Burnette of All About Jazz described the first half of the track as "slyly humorous," but criticized the recording quality and summarized it as "a frightening record which seems a direct expression of—rather than an aesthetic response to (a la 'Glass Enclosure')—his unstable mental condition."
Barry Harris and Michael Weiss showed similar concern regarding the composition.
"[2] Weiss noted that the bassline occasionally clashes with the piano during the tune, and suggested that Heath played through the recording by ear.