You can see how Todd Thomas got the name Speech. The Arrested Development frontman talks about everything from his group's comeback album to "the atrocities of slavery", stopping only to sing or rap. He is a dreadlocked, bespectacled bundle of energy, and he needs to be. Anyone who remembers the southern rappers' brief early-1990s heyday will recall a vast and amorphous line-up, but on this tour Speech is backed by just a guitarist, a bassist and a DJ. "There's actually 19 of us," he explains. "Next time we come we'll bring the whole band."
The Jazz Cafe will need to invest in a bigger stage. Arrested Development were the Grammy-winning alternative rappers of their day, matching politically conscious raps to languid, sunny hooks. Their second album, Zingalamaduni, flopped; only now, after a long hiatus, are they readying their third, Among the Trees. Rap comebacks tend to be disheartening, as faded legends resort to shtick and grumble that hip-hop has gone to hell in a Humvee since their day. Speech, however, couldn't be more congenial, delivering the desired kick of nostalgia without slipping into cabaret.
Arrested Development's biggest hits, Mr Wendal and People Everyday, are greeted with mile-wide smiles and deafening cheers. And it's still a jolt to hear a song as amiably catchy as Tennessee lash out with the line: "Climbed the trees my forefathers hung from." Even new song Night-time Demons, an intense, skulking rap about addiction, holds its own.
Like all alternative rap shows, this one has its self-indulgent moments. There is a chaotic freestyle jam featuring support bands Lifesavas and Spooks. There is, heaven help us, a funk bass solo. There is even a Bob Marley cover, that hoariest of cliches. But if the heart sinks when Speech begins Redemption Song in the same cod-Jamaican accent that afflicts Wyclef Jean's reggae efforts, it rises rapidly as he gives a startlingly affecting performance. Like the whole idea of an Arrested Development reunion, it shouldn't work - but it does.
· At the Jazz Cafe, London NW1, tonight. Box office: 020-7344 0044. Then touring.
